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ASLEEP. 


AUTHOR OP 



CHRISTMAS,” ETC., ETC. 



BROOKLYN, N. Y. : 

T. B. VENTRES, 62 COURT STREET. 




■f 2-3 


Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1871, 
by F. Burge Smith, 

In the Oflace of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, JD. C. 


Edward O. Jenkins, 
PRINTER AND STEREOTYFER, 
20 North William Street, N. Y. 



THE SLEEP. 

Of all the thoughts of God that are 
Borne inward unto souls afar, 

Along the Psalmist’s music deep, 

Now tell me if that any is 

For gift, or grace, surpassing this. 

He giveth His beloved sleep.” 

What do we give to our beloved ? 

A little faith, all undisproved, 

A little dust to overweep. 

And bitter memories to make 
The whole earth blasted for our sake. 

“ He giveth His beloved sleep.” 

“ Sleep soft, beloved ! ” we sometimes say, 
But have no tune to charm away 
Sad dreams that through the eyelids creep ; 
But never doleful dream again 
Shall break the happy slumber, when 
“ He giveth His beloved sleep.” 

O earth, so full of dreary noises ! 

O men, with wailing in your voices ! 

O delved gold, the waller’s heap ! 

( 3 ) 


4 


A SLEEP. 


O strife, O curse that o’er it fall ! 

God makes a silence through you all, 

And “giveth His beloved sleep.” 

For me, my heart, that erst did go 
Most like a tired child at a show, 

That sees through tears the juggler’s leap. 
Would now its wearied vision close. 

Would child-like on His love repose 
Who “giveth His beloved sleep.” 

And friends, dear friends, when it shall be 
That this low breath is gone from me. 

And round my bier ye come to weep. 

Let one, most loving of you all. 

Say, “ Not a tear must o’er her fall — 

“ ‘ He giveth His beloved sleep.’ ” 



B e 4 i c a i e 4 

TO 

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PREFACE. 

I HAVE asked of a former pastor and ever esteemed 
friend, with whom I have often spoken of the eternal 
world, some written thoughts on death — that gate which 
leads to the beyond. 

My request granted, it has been a puzzle where, in this 
volume of so little merit, to place that which will give the 
book a real value to many a soul. 

The decision is,- to put it at the end, as a worthy finish 
to what would otherwise lack much. 

Brooklyn, N. Y. 









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uxe they that do Pis ©ommaad- 
iWiCttts, that thfy way havf fight ta the teee af 
life, anil way eatee in theaugh the gates iata the 
tity/' 

“ ikah (Sah Piatself shall he with them, aa4i 
he theie CSah." 

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eyes ; aa<l theee shall he aa wave death, aeithee 
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ASLEEP. 


CHAPTER I. 

it m\\ wittx thje ft xuW^ 

ET me open the blinds, dear Maud, 



JLJ you know how our darling loved 
the sunshine ; how she would stretch out 
her little hands to grasp it, and how she 
would creep eagerly to kiss the bright patch 
upon the floor. May I not admit a little 
light, sister? Baby never could bear a 
gloomy room.’' 

The young mother knelt in the darkness, 
beside her sleeping child. It was her first 
bitter grief. The little innocent had blessed 
her life for one short year, and then, our 
Lord Jesus took it up to His eternal em- 


(II) 


12 


ASLEEP. 


brace. In His bosom it slept. His arms of 
love were around it. Ah, how safe it was 
from this world’s harm ! 

If mothers could but put aside their an- 
guish, and see only the joy of the ransomed ! 
Yet this is not God’s design for us. He 
wills that we shall feel the tearing away of 
the heart-tendrils as they cling too closely to 
the objects of our love. He knows that by 
the very strength of our affection, and the 
deep yearning grief, we shall be drawn after 
our beloved ones, until we reach them in the 
golden City. Is He not pitiful ? 

Oh, yes, and of sweetest mercy. He does 
not willingly afflict or grieve the children of 
men. He is with us in all our sorrows. 

He bends over us as bends a mother 
o’er her Avaking babe, and raising us ten- 
derly, says, ^ my child.’ * And then he draws 
us closer, and. Himself, with His own hand. 
His pierced hand of love, wipes the still fall- 
ing tear-drops from our face, and tells us 
we are His and He is ours, and how His 
Father loves us, and He loves.” 


ASLEEP. 


13 


Maud paid no attention to her sister. 
With her face buried in the pillow where 
her baby lay, and her whole frame quivering 
with emotion, she thought only of the grave 
that had opened to receive her treasure. 

Annie ventured to let one little ray fall 
upon the bed, and touch the sleeper's curls, 
but it smote like a sharp sword upon the 
mother's heart, as she looked up for a mo- 
ment. 

Shut it out, Annie, the sun mocks me ; 
I cannot bear it to-day. I shall never care 
to see it any more. My baby was my 
brightness. Oh God ! Is she gone forever 
from my sight ?" 

She is with my little Willie now. The 
children are happy together in Paradise ; 
we shall go to them in God's good time, 
dear Maud, if we take patiently the trials 
that he sends. I am not chiding you, sister, 
for grieving so sadly. It would be a hard 
mother that could loose the tiny arms from 
her neck, and the little lips from her bosom, 
without many tears. You know how I re- 


2 


14 


ASLEEP. 


sisted when Willie must go, how I wrestled 
all night with God in earnest pleading; 
how long it was before I could kiss the hand 
that took my darling from me?’' 

‘‘ Oh, yes, you too have suffered, and I for- 
got it; forgive me, Annie.” 

‘‘There is nothing to forgive. I had 
no thought of others when my heart was 
broken over my little child ; community of 
sorrow does not make one’s individual grief 
less keen when the blow first falls. It is only 
afterwards that we feel the preciousness of 
sympathy, when we can say to each other, 
‘ I also have trodden the via dolorosa' ” 

“ The baby seems to rejoice in this beauti- 
ful sun,” continued the aunt, twining a shin- 
ing lock of hair around her finger, and let- 
ting it fall upon the pillow. 

She had not closed the shutter. She 
hoped to accustom the mourner to the 
cheerfulness. 

“ I remember, now,” she said, “ how I help- 
ed on my anguish by refusing every blessing 
that was left to me on earth, when the one 


ASLEEP. 


15 


good was removed. I will tell you, by and 
by, how consolation and peace came again 
to my soul.’' 

Maud was interested only for the moment. 
One could not expect that anything would 
banish the consciousness of her affliction ; but 
she allowed the light to stay upon the baby’s 
curls, and herself opened the blinds the next 
day, and the next, until the little one was no 
longer there, but was resting in a lowlier bed. 
And when the child was gone, it seemed a 
comfort to see this same gleam of sunlight 
where the tiny head had lain. It was a link 
with the departed — a sort of golden chain, 
reaching from the chamber of the mother’s 
sorrow up to the blissful abode of the child. 

You were right, sister Annie/’ said she, 
to insist upon bringing me this solace,” 
and she put her hand upon the radiant pil- 
low ; I have felt nearer to my baby with 
this glory coming down from heaven. It is 
true that little children do not like the 
dark !” 

No wonder,” said Annie, their fresh. 


i6 


ASLEEP. 


pure souls have a certain affinity for the light, 
they leap to meet the early morning. I re- 
member how my little Willie's eyes would 
open at the first faint streak of day, and how 
he would creep from his crib into my bed, 
and pull my sleepy lids apart, and laugh and 
crow, and point gleefully to the eastern sky." 

‘‘You are weeping, Annie. Thenjr^^ are 
not yet resigned to your baby's death ?" 

“ God's blessed will be done," replied her 
sister. “Tears are not always rebellion, 
dear Maud. I have never ceased to miss 
my darling from my arms and sight ; but I 
am happy while I weep. When I recall his 
pretty ways, and how my days and nights 
were all inwoven with his most precious 
life, it is not strange that my heart over- 
flows, and yet, I would not call my baby 
back from the bosom of Jesus, for all worlds. 
A little while and I shall go to him, shall 
find my ewe lamb in the green pastures, 
with the Great Good Shepherd, beside the 
still waters where no harm can ever come ; 
no wolf of sin to tear and rend the flock, 


ASLEEP. 


17 

and make the sheep to err and stray, and 
possibly lose their way beyond recall. 

I am so glad for little Willie up in Para- 
dise ; so proud of my bright angel boy ! All 
my sorrow is for my lonely self. 

“ ‘ God has honored my child by the speed of His choice ; 
He has crowned him with glory, o’erwhelmed him with 
mirth, 

lie sings, up in heaven, with his sweet sounding voice. 
While I, a saint’s mother, am weeping on earth.’ ” 

It does not seem to me that I shall ever 
feel as you do, Annie. I grudge my baby 
even to God, and Heaven. I want her my 
own self. She need not have died. God is 
Almighty, He could have spared her to me. 
Oh ! my little one ; my darling ; my darling 
Annie waited till this burst of anguish had 
spent itself. Then she said gently, It is 
better as our Father has ordered. We shall 
see by and by, how infinitely better than 
anything that we could have chosen. 

When we remember that this world is 
but a school to fit us for the eternal land, is 
it not joy that our children have escaped a 
2* 


i8 


ASLEEP, 


wearisome probation, and through God’s 
loving mercy and grace, have been received 
into the higher place without hard study 
and trial. Besides, Maud, the little children 
have no fear of death : 

“ ‘ They lie down without the least alarm, 

And sleep in Death’s maternal arm, 

Their little life away/ ’’ 

“ That is true ! I never thought of it be- 
fore,” said Maud. My last hour is what I 
have always dreaded, and baby had not this 
terror.” 

No,” said Annie, she had never com- 
mitted wilful sin to plant death’s sting. The 
messenger comes to the little children as an 
angel of light, and his face is full of smiles for 
them. It is better, if the will of God be so, 
to go Home before we need have any appre- 
hension of our Heavenly Father’s frown.” 

“ I have been wondering whether I shall 
have my little baby in the other life, Annie, 
or whether she will have grown, so that no- 
thing familiar will be left to tell me that 
she is mine. You know Emma’s little 


Harry who was sent away to nurse, because 
the mother had no strength to care for her 
child ! Only two years after, when she went 
across the water to her fatherland, to meet 
the little fellow, she would not have re- 
cognized him, he had so developed and 
changed.” 

‘‘And yet, Maud, you recollect that her 
heart was instinctively touched at sight of 
the child, as she met it in the street with a 
strange nurse, and that she stopped to kiss 
it, and to take it in her arms, even before she 
knew really that it was her son. 

“ But whatever hindrances there may be in 
this world to our immediate and perfect rec- 
ognition of each other after a period of sep- 
aration, we are sure that in the world to 
come, where all our faculties and percep- 
tions are quickened, we shall be instantly 
and forever conscious of all the treasures 
which God has bestowed upon us on earth, — 
the gift of love, which sprang out of his own 
immortal love. 

“ That we shall know each other face to 


20 


ASLEEP, 


face, I am convinced, and that we shall see 
our beautiful babes, as infants still to our 
maternal hearts, I fully believe. My little 
Willie can be none other than my little Wil- 
lie to me, though ages were to pass away 
before we meet. 

Are not grown men and women, as little 
boys and girls to their parents, even here? 
Their mothers and fathers seem to keep the 
same relative distance, and to feel the same 
protecting love. You may comfort yourself, 
dear Maud, with the assurance that. 


“ * A babe in Heaven is a babe forever, 

Perfect as spirits and able to pour forth 

Their glad heart in the tongues which angels use. 

These nurslings, gathered in God’s nursery. 

Forever grow in loveliness and love, 

(Growth is the law of all intelligence,) 

Yet cannot pass the limit which defines their 
being, 

“ ‘ In God’s great household, Heaven with all its joys 
Will perfect, but not change their infancy,’ 


This passage from Bickersteth, is so 
beautiful ; and there is another that especial- 
ly touches me, and answers to my own 


ASLEEP. 


21 


heart's thought of the little ones in Paradise. 
He represents the meeting with his children, 


“ ‘ Voices as familiar as my mother tongue 
Fell on me, and an infant cherub, sprang 
As springs a ‘ sunbeam to the heart of flowers,* 
Into my arms, and murmured audibly, 

‘ Father, dear Father !’ and another clasped 
My knees, and faltered the same name of power. 
One look sufficed to tell me they were mine. 

My babes, my blossoms, my long parted ones ; 
The same in feature, and in form, as when 
I bent above their dying pillow last. 

Only the spirit, now disrobed of flesh. 

And beaming with the likeness of their Lord.*’* 


This is a very sweet thought, dear An- 
nie, for you and me, whose babes were so 
perfectly formed ; but poor ‘ wee Wallace ' 
with his distorted spine, and the old face on 
his young shoulders, how would his moth- 
er like to think of him ‘ as when she bent 
above his dying piUow last.' " 

‘‘You forget, Maud, that so far as our 
mortal imperfections are concerned, we shall 
be purged and changed through the grave, - 
and raised in unimpaired beauty. The spir- 
itual body must be free from all defects, or 


22 


ASLEEP. 


it would not be ‘ like unto the glorious body 
of our Lord Jesus/ But that we shall retain 
our individuality so as to be recognized by 
each other, is plain through Scriptural proof. 
Did not the Apostles know Moses and Elias 
on the Mount of Transfiguration, and did not 
Mary cry out, after the first surprise of the 
risen Saviour's presence was over, ‘ Rab- 
boni !' 

Oh, it is precious to feel that we go to no 
uncertain destiny. The Home where our 
babes are sporting in the light of God, is as 
surely the scene of sweet family re-unions as 
the earthly home roof, that, in festive seasons, 
gathers beloved ones long parted." 

‘‘You speak as one who knows," said 
Maud. “To most people, the things of Para- 
dise and of Heaven, seem intangible and 
dim.'’ 

“ That is because they live more for this 
world than the world to come. We lose 
sight of the upper glory by looking con- 
stantly downwards. Like Faber's ‘ Old 
Laborer,' 


ASLEEP. 


23 


“We see no bright blue shy, 

Except what meets our eye 
Reflected from the rain-pools in the street.* 


But unlike him, we do not turn even these 
faint glimpses to account, by dwelling upon 
the thought of what blessedness must be in 
the reality that can cast such beautiful shad- 
ow. I believe, sister, that one who lives 
much in communion with his Maker, is per- 
mitted an almost visible acquaintance with 
the eternal joys.’' 

There are few who attain to such a privi- 
lege, Annie.” 

And yet, I recall some saintly men and 
women, whose hearts are wholly set upon 
sacred delights, and to whom the transition 
from this to the better life, would be as 
natural and sweet, as for us to loose our 
arms from our dear mother’s neck, that we 
might embrace our father.” 

‘‘ I can scarcely understand this. I am 
afraid I have been too much absorbed in 
this world. My aspirations for my baby, 
were that she might grow up beautiful and 


24 


ASLEEP. 


graceful, and accomplished, so as to make 
the joy and admiration of all who should 
meet her. I had not thought so much of 
the graces of soul, and of her advancement 
and preparation for Heaven.’' 

If this be so, my sister, our loving Sa- 
viour has seen it, and has provided that your 
little one’s feet shall never go astray. We 
cannot always discern His motives in taking 
our dear ones from us, but we may be sure 
that it is never without mercy and love, both 
to them and to us.” 

Maud bowed her head and wept quietly. 
The slowly-creeping days were sadder than 
the first hours of her sorrow. 


‘ Old grief is worse than new ; its pain 
Is deeper in the heart ; 

The dull blind ache is worse to bear 
Than blow, or wound, or smart,” 


And Annie felt keenly for the mourner, 
but whenever these paroxysms came upon 
her sister she made no attempt at consolation. 
She well knew that : 


•ASLEEP. 


25 


“ Deep grief is better let alone, 

Voices, to it, are swords, 

A silent look will soothe it more 
Than the tenderness of words.’* 

Yet, as the twilight gathered and the be- 
reaved mother sat still in the gloom of her 
tears, Annie played a soft prelude upon her 
parlor organ, and sang : 

Far, far away, like bells at evening pealing, 

The voice of Jesus sounds o’er land and sea. 

And laden souls, by thousands, meekly stealing. 
Kind Shepherd, turn their weary steps to Thee. 

“ Rest comes at length, though life be long and dreary, 
The day must dawn, and darksome night be past. 
All journeys end in welcomes to the weary, 

And Heaven, the heart’s true home, will come at 
last.” 


‘‘ How sweet that is ! said Maud — ‘‘ I 
meant for baby to begin music as soon as her 
little fingers were strong enough to manage 
the keys.'' 

And now, she is already taught," respond- 
ed Annie, observing the regret in her sis- 
ter's tone. 

The Seraphim’s song, is the song that she sings.” 

3 


26 


ASLEEP. 


Little harper, harping with her harp, and 
with her guileless mouth giving praise unto 
God, and to the Lamb. Oh, how do we for- 
get what advantages of knowledge our little 
children have in that beautiful world above ! 
For teachers — the bright angels, who know 
the heavenly wisdom. I am content for 
my little Willie, though, when God called, I 
would hav6 held him back. 

Earth’s masters coerce our little tender 
children ; they frighten them into learning 
by punishment for a trifling delinquency. 
The angels have patience, and teach through 
love alone, and the blessed Saviour himself 
deigns to enlighten our ransomed babes. I 
should have dreaded giving up my boy to 
any mortal governor. Even our own rule 
over our children is often without due sym- 
pathy, and correct judgment. 

“ Now there is no danger that they will be 
provoked unto wrath, or that they will be 
wounded by erroneous suspicions, or false 
accusations, or unmerited penalties. 

‘‘ Oh, Maud ! it breaks my heart to see the 


ASLEEP, 


27 


abuse of little innocents, by teachers, and 
masters, and parents, in this world ! And 
who knows what might not have been your 
weakness, and mine, in training these immor- 
tal spirits ! 

‘^You would make one afraid to be a 
mother/' 

Oh, no, not when it pleases God to in- 
trust to us a child. That which he takes 
we should not dare ask to keep; but that 
which he spares to us, he will give us the 
grace, if we ask, to train for his King- 
dom." ^ 

‘‘ You show a singular resignation, Annie, 
when you talk ; but did I not see you yester- 
day, weeping over Willie's picture-book, and 
the little shoe, as you came suddenly upon 
them in the drawer?" 

‘‘ Tears are so precious, Maud, our dear 
Lord does not forbid them ; but rather 
mingles with them his own. I did weep 
over the thumbed book, where the lamb 
was represented in the Saviour's arms. Wil- 
lie used to lay his face to the Shepherd's 


28 


ASLEEP, 


face, and kiss it, and listen over and over 
again, to the story of His goodness to the 
little lambs. And you know how the red 
shoes pleased my darling boy, and how he 
clung to this one, after the other was lost, 
and would have it upon his foot just before 
he died. It is not to nurse a grief, dear 
Maud, that I keep some of the baby’s things, 
to look at now and then; but as sweet re- 
membrances of pleasant ways that a moth- 
er's heart loves to dwell upon ; his golden 
curl that lay upon my bosom, or was lightly 
moved by the summer’s breath ; his little 
cap, with the ribbons tumbled, and the lace 
worn and slightly soiled by the warm head ; 
his baptismal dress that hung over the Font, 
and caught some of the consecrated drops ; 
his rubber ring indented by the little teeth — 
these are very precious to me, and keep my 
heart soft and warm towards all God’s little 
children.” 

‘‘ Did you preserve everything that was 
Willie’s ?” 

‘‘ Not for myself, Maud ; that would have 


ASLEEP. 


29 


been wronging the spirit of my darling. 
You know the winter was very cold, and 
there were needy objects all about me. I 
gave his warm flannels to comfort some poor 
frozen child.. I cannot bear to see a baby 
chilled, and wretched for lack of clothing. 
It would have hurt me to put away Willie's 
wardrobe, when it would give cheer to some 
miserable nursling. I saved a few articles 
that my heart could not possibly spare ; but 
poor ‘ Ettie's ' baby boy had the rest. It 
gave me a pang at first to see them on an- 
other's child, but the blessing and the joy 
came with the thanks of the mother, and the 
comfort of the baby,- which were to me as 
the approving smile of God." 

Annie, I cannot give away my little 
one's clothes." 

‘‘ Not yet, sister. It could scarcely be ex- 
pected so soon. It seems almost a sacrilege 
when one is newly bereaved, to part with 
any sacred memento of the absent. It is 
only when one's heart goes away from the 
grave, and dwells with the beloved, close to 
3 * 


30 


ASLEEP, 


our Lord Jesus, that one is able to overcome 
all thought of self/' 

Maud sighed heavily. She envied her 
sister the spirit to which she had attained. 
‘‘ It seems to me," she said, that I shall 
hever come to feel quite as you do, Annie. 
I wonder at your uniform cheerfulness. The 
world appears to me such a dark, dreary 
place since baby is gone, and yet I see you 
interested in every body with whom you 
come in contact." 

If I yield a pleasant service to our Heav- 
enly Father, dear Maud, it is because of His 
holy discipline. ‘ Before I was afflicted I went 
astray, but now have I kept Thy word.' It is 
true that God has taken my darling from my 
sight, but I know that it was in order to draw 
me nearer to Himself, and I am trying to 
give Him such loving obedience as I should 
have craved of my child if he had been spar- 
ed to me here upon the earth. I think, too, 
that if we truly love God, we cannot be long 
cast down under any trial that He may see 
fit to send upon us; and besides, we know 


ASLEEP. 


31 


that it is a sacred duty to enter into the joys 
and sorrows of others, while we are in the 
world, and that it is a sin to give ourselves 
up wholly to our own individual interests. 
There were months, after Willie went away, 
when my soul was sorrowful, even unto 
death, but our blessed Jesus was with me in 
this agony, and the angel of His Presence 
strengthened me, and lifted me up, and gave 
me work to do for others, so that the keen- 
ness of my grief might pass from me. Maud, 
it is when I have been most cheerful, and 
most earnest in my life work, that my sainted 
boy has seemed very close beside me, so that 
I could almost feel his precious touch. Oh ! 
he is not lost to me! he has but gone just 
within the veil that separates the material 
from the spiritual world. Who knows but 
that God permits our darlings to minister to 
us in many a way that is mysterious to our 
comprehension ! Often and often I feel the 
influence as of my baby’s blessed nearness, 
and I seem to hear his 'little voice calling 
from above ‘ Mother, Mother.’ Then I know 


♦32 


ASLEEP. 


that I must not sit down and dream sadly, 
because I do not see him face to face, but 
that God means for me to arise and do some 
comforting thing among His sick and sorrow- 
ing and poor — something that will give joy 
to the angels in Heaven, and to my redeem- 
ed one in Paradise, and that will bring peace 
to my own soul/’ 

Maud got up hastily and went out from 
the house, and down the garden path, 
through the gate, and across the meadow, 
to a small evergreen enclosure not far 
away. 

She goeth unto the grave to weep there,” 
said Annie. It will do her good, the grass 
is springing so freshly over the little mound, 
and the daisies are white and thick, (how 
my baby used to love to clasp them in his 
tiny hands ! ) and the birds are singing sweet- 
ly in the sunlit cedar boughs, and the blue 
sky bends over the spot, and God’s angels 
are watching beside the sacred dust, and 
our dear Lord Jesus himself has gone out 
after the mourner, and will, in His own good 


ASLEEP. 


33 

time, say to the sleeping child ' come forth,* 
and will restore it to its mother I' 



34 


ASLEEP, 


SLEEP, BABY, SLEEP. 

“ Sleep, little baby ! sleep ! 

Not in thy cradle bed. 

Not on thy mother’s breast 
Henceforth shall be thy rest. 

But with the quiet dead. 

God took thee in his mercy, 

A lamb untasked — untried — 

He fought the field for thee — 

He won the victory — 

And thou are sanctified. 

I look around, and see 
The evil ways of men. 

And oh, beloved child ! 

I’m more than reconciled 
To thy departure then. 

Now like a dew-drop shrined 
Within a crystal stone, 

Thou’rt safe in Heaven, my dove ! 
Safe with the source of love. 

The everlasting One ! 

And when the hour arrives. 

From flesh that sets me free, 
Thy spirit may await, 

The. first at Heaven’s gate 
To meet and welcome me.” 



CHAPTER IL 

wjejeiJf? Site 

Am^d n0t iflail, hwt dttvdV* 

UR Blessed Lord Jesus does not 



mean to rebuke our natural, heart- 
felt expressions of grief. In these He him- 
self participates. He only chides overmuch 
lamentation. The tears are not forbidden 
- that make a rainbow of hope as we look 
through them up to His glory. 

We cannot help weeping when a young 
girl goes out from us in the very brightness 
of her days. It leaves us so desolate to have 
these fresh buoyant, merry beings taken. 
They make such sunshine in the house. A 
daughter, a sister, — precious titles ; and 
comprehending so much ! 

Ours was the dearest and most lovely 


(35) 


ASLEEP, 


36 

that could have been sent upon the earth/' 
Each bereaved heart says this, and each 
heart says truly, as it ,estimates its own 
treasure. 

We have watched our darling from her 
infancy, and have noted every pretty devel- 
opment, and now just as she had flushed into 
womanhood, and was fulfilling to us sweetest 
promise, she is gone from our sight. O God ! 
it is very hard to bear. And yet we thank 
Thee that she has been trained for the house 
above, so that it can be to her none other 
than a familiar place, just over the threshold 
of this outer court ; a place of which she has 
had frequent glimpses before her feet crossed 
into the full Presence and perfect delight. 

How well she always learned her holy 
lessons, and practiced the gentle manners 
that belong to the King’s household ! 

I can see her little white figure beside my 
knee, and her clasped hands, and her inno- 
cent eyes raised toward Heaven, as if the 
face of the Divine Parent were plainly be- 
fore her vision. 


ASLEEP, 


37 


Thou God seest me” seemed her happy 
thought all the day long. Not as of a watch- 
ful eye that waits to detect a fault ; but as a 
loving guardianship, without which one 
would be very lonely on a strange pilgrim- 
age. Our daughter rejoiced in this su- 
preme vigilance. She would sing with all 
her heart, ‘‘ I will walk in the light, in the 
light of God.'' 

As she grew in stature she grew also in 
grace, and in favor with her Heavenly Father, 
and with all who knew her. Her chief joy 
was in imparting happiness to others. There 
was nothing selfish in her character. She 
was implicit in her obedience to her superi- 
ors, and very sweet and winning toward all. 

‘‘ Was she faultless ?" 

Oh, no ! only our Blessed Redeemer was 
without sin. God does not expect us to at- 
tain to perfection in this life, though he 
commands us to imitate the example of His 
perfect Son. 

Our daughter, like all the children of 
Adam, was sometimes overcome by the 


38 


ASLEEP. 


enemy ; but her sorrow was so sincere, and 
her return to her holy allegiance so quick, 
that forgiveness was sure, and her peace 
scarcely broken, so few willful sins were 
committed by her. 

Dear child ! no wonder that she came to 
the hour of her departure from us with 
serenity ! 

‘‘Father,’' she said, “if this is death, it is 
very pleasant,” and so she passed away. 

The remark indicated that she had felt a 
natural dread of the last moment. 

All through her sickness, she had spoken 
of her unworthiness of the love of Christ, 
and yet had dwelt upon His free grace ; how 
it was exhibited during His life here on 
earth, and how it follows us always, and 
everywhere, and is especially precious as 
we lie down never to rise again, and are re- 
viewing our poor service to our Creator. 

The utterances of our dying ones are ever 
to be treasured. They impress us as no 
sermons can do. We forget not one word 
that comes from the pale lips so soon to be 


ASLEEP, 


39 


speechless. We keep their sayings in our 
hearts, and revolve them as we sit alone 
thinking of the absent. 

But there are other words that dwell 
with us also. Words of bright cheer, spoken 
in health, when we little dreamed of the 

weary waiting here,’' while our beloved are 
in Paradise. 

A young girl is so full of hope, the hope 
of this life ; she looks forward to a protract- 
ed future on earth. She seldom thinks of the 
grave, but as a distant refuge, when long 
storms shall have tired her, and made her 
yearn for rest. We also anticipate for her 
a lengthened probation, and much joy. We 
think too of ourselves. We look for sweet 
companionship when our daughter will be 
more like a dear sister to us, than a child. Al- 
ready has she attained such maturity that she 
is able to enter into all our plans and interests, 
with hearty sympathy and appreciation. 
We have come to reverse the relationships of 
life, and to lean upon this young vigorous 
being, while our own spirits are losing some^ 


40 


ASLEEP, 


thing of their strength and elasticity. Oh ! 
how precious our daughter’s solicitude, 
and gentle care ! how grateful her tender 
thought for father and mother, lest some 
heaviness of soul, or weariness of body hurt 
them. 

Blithesome child, with this beautiful shade 
of care for us upon her sunny brow ! How 
little did we imagine that we should be here 
to-day, and she beyond the reach of eye or 
hand. Oh ! for one glimpse of the dear face ! 
Oh ! to clasp her once more to our heart of 
hearts! Oh! to touch her ransomed head 
again ! Oh ! to hear the pathetic voice. 
Mother,” Father.” 

Patience my soul ! In God’s good time, it 
shall be. 

We used to talk with our daughter of the 
time when she should be a bride, and should 
cross the ocean, and behold the beauty of far- 
off lands ; and while we talked, lo ! the Bride- 
groom came, and she has gone with Him to 
the other shore, and the knowledge of the 
far country is hers. 


ASLEEP. 


41 


Does not her voice come to us from the 
beautiful city that is above all earthly des- 
criptions ? Does she not speak to us of the 
pure gold, and the jasper walls, and the 
precious stones, and the pearls and the crys- 
tal river, and the tree of life, and the glory 
that is better than sun, moon or stars ; and 
the white throne, and the rainbow, and the 
blessed angels, and the saints of all ages, and 
the Lamb of God who has exalted her to 
the bliss of His eternal presence ? 

Oh ! we cannot weep or make much ado, 
when we remember what gain there is to 
our darling, beyond the river of death. 

We will make ready to go to her, since 
she will no more come to us. We will com- 
fort one another with these words that have 
reached us from the New Jerusalem, where 
our daughter is in joy and peace. 

If our child had lived in pleasure, and 
been wanton upon the earth ; if she had not 
loved the way of holiness ; if she had left us 
no assurance of her eternal happiness, it 
would be hard to dry our tears ; but even 


42 


ASLEEP, 


then, it would be wronging the Infinite 
mercy and compassion, if we did not cast 
all our care upon the Lord. To weep with- 
out hope, is what one who trusts in the Di- 
vine Saviour, can scarcely conceive of. 

It is so blessed to remember that — 

“ There is no place where earth’s sorrows 
Are more felt than up in heaven ; 

There is no place where earth’s failings 
Have such kindly judgment given.” 



ASLEEP, 


43 



CONSOLATION. 


“ All are not taken ! there are left behind, 

Living Beloveds, tender looks to bring. 

And make the daylight still a happy thing. 

And tender voices to make soft the wind. 

But if it were not so — if I could find 
No love in all the world for comforting. 

Nor any path, but hollowly did ring. 

Where ‘ dust to dust’ the love from life disjoined— 
And, if before those sepulchres un-moving, 

I stood alone (as some forsaken lamb 

Goes bleating up the moors in weary dearth). 

Crying ‘Where are ye, O my loved and loving?’ 

I know a voice would sound, ‘ Daughter, I am. 

Can I suffice for Heaven, and not for earth ?’ ” 




CHAPTER III. 

if ®h0U yun \xm, my )jixottxtt 
n0t xtieil/^ 

'' 55hU l[)V0thev xiu 

W HAT bitterness of regret in the ex- 
pression of the sister of Lazarus ! 
What blessedness of hope begotten by the 
promise of our Lord Jesus ! 

In the hour of deep distress, when we 
look in vain for the intervention of man to 
save us from an impending grief, and when 
prayers to the Almighty are unavailing, to 
avert the sorrow, we are apt to think our- 
selves God-forsaken. 

Now, Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, 
and Lazarus.'' 

And yet He did not interpose to spare the 
dear ones the anguish of this separation from 
their brother, though they had appealed to 

( 44 ) 


ASLEEP, 


45 

Him in the tOMching message, Lord, be- 
hold, he whom Thou lovest, is sick/' 

True, He did not go at once to Bethany, 
and restore the dying man, but He lingered 
in the vicinity and awaited the hour of de- 
liverance, which should confirm His disciples 
in the Christian Faith, and would best pro- 
mote the glory of God. This narration of 
Lazarus' sickness, and death, and resurrec- 
tion, is very beautiful, and full of truest com- 
fort to us, who are in affliction. Possibly, 
we have all, in the deep of our souls, spoken 
Martha's and Mary's reproach, to our very 
best Friend, Lord, if Thou hadst been 
here ?" 

But now, we have come to know the hu- 
man sympathy of Jesus. He groaned in 
the spirit, and was troubled." Jesus 
wept." ‘‘Jesus therefore again groaning in 
Himself, cometh to the grave." 

Oh, there is precious consolation in the 
thought of the presence of the God Man 
beside that tomb at Bethany. 

And as the Saviour of mankind was there, 


46 


ASLEEP. 


weeping with the mourners, and groaning in 
spirit ov^er the power of that death which 
sin has brought into this world, so is He 
with us, sharing all our griefs, and acquainted 
with all our sorrows, and waiting for the 
moment when He can say to our beloved, 
‘‘ Come forth,’' and to our hearts, Be of 
good cheer, I have overcome death, and the 
power of the grave.” 

We ought to feel that he cannot be very 
far away from us in the time of our trial, 
that He abides near us to help and bless, 
and that he will surely come to the very 
place where our dead lie, and where we so 
often are weeping. 

And then, the separation will not be long. 
But as four days ” when we shall look up- 
on the re-animate face, and have the society 
of our brother again. 

There is a sadness in the decease of a vig- 
orous man, that scarcely attaches to either 
the very young, or the very old. The prime 
of life seems his. He appears fitted to cope 
with every enemy, and to overcome every 


ASLEEP, 


47 

ill. We do not associate with him the idea 
of decay, or death. We look up to Him for 
strength, we lean upon him for support. 
“ Our Brother.” What confidence of pro- 
tection in the words ! To the sister there is 
that thought ; to the brother the sense of 
companionship, or of example. To both, 
the consciousness of pride. 

I have in my mind such a brother, strick- 
en down in the vigor of his manhood, and 
removed from the earth. 

We are too apt to lament him as one 
gathered before the time. As if the Divine 
Reaper knew not the hour of harvest ! As if 
God were not so wise, that He would leave 
plucking, if the fruit would better ripen 
here, than in Eternity ! As if our gracioua 
Redeemer were not so merciful, that He 
would not take a man from possible repent- 
ance! We can surely trust God for this; 
that if our brother has gone in the midst of 
his age, it is because the Omniscient has 
seen that he has shown whatever strength he 
would have done, to this generation. What 


48 


ASLEEP, 


new impetus the transition to the better 
world may give, we do not know. There 
are times in our life here below, when our 
whole being seems to stagnate. There is no 
quick pulsation ; no healthy circulation ; no 
vigor of brain, or nerve, or muscle. The 
evil comes from something in the air about 
us. We go to another clime, and breathe, 
and act again. The torpor is removed ; we 
cannot come back. We have exhausted the 
old climate. Our life and influence are bet- 
ter worth in the new, and our friends must 
rejoice for us. 

There are men taken out of the world, 
whose stay here seems to have wrought 
nothing ; their noble, God-given faculties all 
lost, or wasted. Such, we must leave to the 
tenderness of Him, whose judgment is bet- 
ter than our mercy. He knoweth our in- 
firmities; He remembereth whereof we are 
made ; He is pitiful and long-suffering.” If 
we think of human failings with kindness 
and charity, how much more shall the Infi- 
nite pity be shown toward them ? 


ASLEEP. 


49 ^ 


It is not safe to be presumptuous toward 
God ; to continue in sin in that grace may 
abound ! Let no one take courage to do 
wrong, from a thought of the sweet mercy of 
Heaven. W e, who yet have something of our 
probation left, must strive to enter in at the 
strait gate, as if there were no merit but of 
works, since it is by our works that God will 
judge us ; and yet, for those whose season of 
combat is over, we may think more of mer- 
cy, than of their delinquencies, or God's 
wrath, as we remember into whose hands 
they have fallen. 

There is a passage in Bickersteth, that has 
given me great comfort, even with regard to 
those who must be cast out forever from the 
presence of the blessed. It is almost with 
trembling that I say this, lest it should by 
any be abused, and yet it is the thought of 
a man of God, and of a mind of deep reflec- 
tion. It speaks of the submission of the 
condemned, to the Divine will that has fixed 
their eternal state; a submission that seems 
somewhat to mitigate the misery, 

5 


so 


ASLEEP. 


Satan says: — 

“ The Lord is righteous ; I have sinned, and die, 
Lost, lost, nor would I crave it otherwise. 

What would I otherwise ? escape from chains ? 
Goodness has hung these chains around my limbs, 
O, God ! I bow forever at thy feet. 

The only Potentate, the only Lord, 

I see far off, the, glory of thy Kingdom, 

Basking in peace, uninterrupted peace : 

But were I free, and were my comrades free. 

Sin mightier than myself and them, would drag 
Our armies to perplex those fields with war. 

Only thus fetter’d can we safely gaze 
On that which is the only lenitive of pain j 
Virtue and goodness triumphing^ and grace^ 

Evolving^ out of darkness , lights in Heaven^ 

Thus only, to the prisoners of despair. 

Can mercy, which is Infinite, vouchsafe 
For glimpses of the beauty of holiness. 

Albeit a beauty which can never clothe 
Ourselves, the heirs of everlasting wrath. 

Woe, woe immedicable woe for those 
Whose hopeless ruin, is their only hope, 

And hell their solitary resting-place. 

Lost, lost, our doom is irreversible ; 

Power, justice, mercy ^ love have sealed us here. 
Glory to God who sitteth on the throne. 

And to the Lamb forever and forever.” 


But, to the word of inspiration we should 
go for all positive solace, or comfort, in our 
doubts, and our sorrows, with regard to 


ASLEEP. 


51 


those who have left us no sure hope of their 
eternal happiness. The promise to the dy- 
ing thief has calmed many a despairing 
mourner, when all words of man were in 
vain. The power of our Lord Jesus, and 
his willingness to save unto the uttermost, 
is our best reliance. We have no right 
even in our own minds, to Jix the eternal 
state of the departed, and to lament even 
the most wretched sinner as already in end- 
less woe. Let us leave such in the hands of 
our merciful and just Creator, and seek ear- 
nestly our. own salvation, and that of the 
living around us. And let us remember 
that in removing the sinner from earth, God 
is restraining his hands from further mis- 
chief, that might swell the measure of his 
woe, and the keenness of our sorrow. 

God doeth all things well. We can trust 
Him with those who offend His goodness, 
and with those who love His holy laws, and 
walk uprightly in them. 

We know how He yearns toward the re- 
bellious. Did He not die for us while we 
were yet sinners?’' 


52 


ASLEEP. 


If our brother has spent his days here in 
the beauty of holiness ; if he has given his 
fresh young being wholly to God, and lived 
only with a view to his eternal and glorious 
inheritance, thrice blessed are we, as we 
think into what bliss the angel of death has 
ushered him ! There is nothing so precious 
to our bereaved hearts, as the memory of 
his devout and earnest soul ; nothing so 
comforting as the recollection of his devo- 
tion to the cause of Christ Jesus our Lord ; 
nothing so sweet as the abiding influence of 
his gentle and pure character, and his wor- 
thy example. 

Happy eve.n in their tears beside the new- 
made grave, are those who lay such a broth- 
'^^r down to his last repose. 

Thy Brother shall rise again.” 


ASLEEP. 


53 



BEREAVEMENT. 

** When some beloveds, ’neath whose eyelids lay 
The sweet lights of my childhood, one by one 
Did leave me dark before the natural sun, 

And I astonied, fell, and could not pray, 

A thought within me to myself did say — . 

‘ Is God less God, that thou art mortal-sad? 

Rise, worship, bless Him ! in this sackcloth clad 
As in that purple !’ — But I answer nay ! 

What child his filial heart in words conveys. 

If him for very good his father choose 
To smite ? What can he but with sobbing breath 
Embrace th’ unwilling hand which chasteneth ? 
— And my dear Father, thinking fit to bruise. 
Discerns in silent tears, both prayer and praise.” 


5 * 



CHAPTER IV. 


M uttt0 ttxt irtcrjrle x\x t\xt m0vniujj, mxA 
nt mn wa xvxU 

O sudden a bereavement ! The morn- 



kJ? ing fraught with its ordinary occupa- 
tions and interests ; the household full of 
its accustomed joy ; the children merry ; 
the wife glad with present delights, and hap- 
py anticipations ; the husband content, and 
grateful for his home blessings. He thinks 
not of sorrow ; he goes about speaking 
cheerfully with friends ; in his heart he is 
planning future amusements and pleasures, 
with the one dear object for whom all his 
efforts are made, and in whom all his 
thoughts centre. At evening, with a stroke, 
the desire of his eyes is taken away.’^ God 
comfort him ! 


( 54 ) 


ASLEEP, 


55 


Such an experience came to one of my 
nearest relativ^es. It was New-Year's day. 
A time when we feel that life has for us a 
fresh lease. Oh ! the beauty, and the prom- 
ise of that gala morning, eighteen years 
ago ! Oh ! the anguish of that night, as it 
shut down heavily upon the stricken hus- 
band ! 

There is no immediate consolation for such 
woe. ‘‘ Life struck sharp on death makes 
awful lightning." It stuns to insensibility of 
all things but the great black void that is 
just before us. 

We see not Jesus with His eye of pity, 
and His heart of love. Heaven, and the 
angels seem afar off, and the coffin, and the 
shroud, and the grave are close beside us. 

Even after a man is awakened from the 
first dread shock, there is a long indifference 
to the business and duties of life. 

The little motherless children at length 
arouse him from a morbid grief. For them 
his grave lips contrive a miserable smile." 
For them he consents to take his place in the 


56 


ASLEEP. 


world again. Through them Infinite love 
speaks to his bereaved soul, and he looks 
up with gratitude for the blessings left to him. 

God gives us time to weep. He does not 
exact from us a tearless acquiescence in 
His fatherly corrections. We may bow down 
in extreme agony before Him and He will 
not chide. Three times we may pray for the 
bitter cup to pass from us, and God will 
listen patiently, and send His angel to 
strengthen us. Oh ! the blessedness of the 
relief that comes at last ! 

An angel from heaven.’' The strength is 
from above. God sends it. Human sympa- 
thy also He gives us. ‘‘ Peter and James, 
and John ” — the friends who have been with 
us in close communion. They may not enter 
into the very depths of our sorrow; none 
but God can do this, but they are only a 
stone’s cast ” from us, and the gloom of our 
Gethsemane is not so deep, for their pre- 
sence. 

The bosom companion is gone. No one 
can supply that loss and lack. 


ASLEEP. 


57 


Divine institution of marriage ! Mystical, 
sacred union, of which no symbol is worthy 
but the bridal of Christ and his Church. 

If soul meet soul in a true wedlock, is the 
bond ever broken ? The communion of 
saints shall endure for ever. 

The beloved one, departed from our phys- 
ical sight, is yet near to our spiritual sense. 
We feel the familiar presence in all the 
places where we have been together. It 
follows us in our going out, and our coming 
in. 

Shall we say that this invisible presence 
does not deepen the yearning for the dear 
form and face! Oh, no. We stretch out 
heart and arms, and speak the beloved 
name, and long to touch, and clasp, and 
caress. 

Yet is God very good, to leave us so 
much joy as this dim vision, this intangible 
nearness. 

To be satisfied, is not what He asks of us. 
That will come when we awake up after 
Christ's likeness, and behold all the dear 


58 


ASLEEP. 


ones whom he has given us, gathered with 
us in the One Eternal Home. Theremin’s ” 
beautiful ‘‘ Awakening ” depicts the delight 
of a re-union between husband and wife, 
after a long separation by the death of one 
of the parties. 

It is the moment when the other imprisoned 
spirit is freed. The wife speaks, Thou hast 
slept well ?” 

‘‘As never before. Not even in childhood 
did I experience such a deep, soft, refreshing 
slumber. My old father, thou rememberest 
him well, when he stepped into the room 
in the morning, where we were waiting for 
him, used to say in answer to our inquiry 
how he had slept, ‘ Like the blessed !’ Like 
the blessed, I might say, have I slept ; or 
rather like the blessed have I awakened. I 
feel myself new quickened ; as if all weari- 
ness and all need of sleep were gone forever. 
Such vigor is in my limbs, such elasticity in 
my movements, that I believe I could fly if 
I would.” 

“ And you are pleased with this place ?” 


ASLEEP. 


59 


“ Indeed, I must say we have been in many 
a beautiful place together ; but this is won- 
derful and beautiful beyond description. 

What trees ! actually heaven high ! They 
bear blossoms and fruit together. Their 
branches swaying to the morning wind, cause 
the tree-tops to give forth melody as if a 
host of feathered singers dwelt in them. Be- 
hind the trees, the mountains tower up, their 
majestic forms rigidily defined in the pure 
air, and here and there, clouds glowing with 
all the hues of sunrise and sunset, stretch 
along their sides, or float over their summits. 
Upon the highest peak, out of a milk white 
translucent shimmering mist, there spring 
as it were, the gates and towers and palaces 
of a splendid city. From this peak nearest 
us, there seems to gush a mighty water, 
which I may call a sea, rather than a stream, 
and which nevertheless leaps down the nu- 
merous terraces of the mountain, not with 
fearful roaring, but with a melodious sound. 
Wide about us are sprinkled the drops 
which water the trees and flowers, and im- 


6o 


ASLEEP, 


part a delicious coolness to the air, making 
it ecstacy to breathe here. Look, too, at this 
bank whereon we stand ! how luxuriant, and 
how thickly strewn with wonderful flowers ! 
We wander over it, and yet the spires of 
grass are not broken, nor are the flowers 
crushed by our footsteps. It is a solitary 
place; yet on all sides vistas open to us, 
and the horizon tempts us ever farther and 
farther on.'' 

Hast thou seen all this before, or dost 
thou see it to-day for the first time?" 

“ Notwithstanding all is so home-like to 
me here, and though everything greets me 
as something long beloved, yet when I think 
of it, I must say No, I have never been here 
before." 

‘‘And dost thou not wonder to see me 
again at thy side." 

“ Indeed, and hast thou not, somehow, al- 
ways been near me ?" 

“ In a certain sense, I have ; but in another, 
not so. It is long since thine eyes have seen 
,me. I disappeared from them once." 


ASLEEP. 


6l 


“ Ah ! now there sweeps over my memory 
as it is were a dark cloud — days of anxiet}^ 
and nights spent in weeping — only the painful 
thoughts and emotions which so recently 
absorbed me. Now they elude my grasp ; I 
cannot distinctly comprehend them, they 
appear to me something mysterious.’' 

Think on the fourteenth of February.” 

How, now it is*all clear to me. It was 
near noon. Four days hadst thou been sick. 
We had feared much for thee, but still had 
hope. Suddenly a faintness came over thee ; 
thou didst lean thy head upon my breast ; 
didst sink back with a deep sigh ; thou diedst 
— Yes, it is all over, thou art dead.” 

I am dead ; yet see, I live.” 

‘‘ If thou art dead, and if I see thee, then 
do I really dream?” 

Thou dreamest not, for thou art awake.” 

Or, art thou sent down from heaven to 
earth, that I should see thee again for a short 
time, and then anew, through long years 
lament thy disappearance ?” 

‘ No, henceforth we shall never separate. 

6 


62 


ASLEEP. 


I am indeed sent to thee, but not down 
upon the earth. Look around thee here ; 
where upon earth, hast thou seen such trees, 
such waters ? Look at thyself ; thou didst 
go about yonder, bowed beneath the weight 
of years. Now thou art young again : thou 
dost not walk, thou floatest ; thine eyes not 
only see, but see immeasurably far; look in- 
ward upon thyself ; has it always been with 
thy heart as now ?’' 

Within me is a deep, unfathomable, ever- 
swelling, and yet entirely still and peaceful 
sea. Yes, when I look about me here, and 
when I feel thy hand in mine, then I must 
say I am blessed. I am in heaven.'' 

Thou art." 

And then must I be actually dead ?" 

Thou art. Hast thou not lain sick in 
that very chamber where I died, and whither 
thou didst long to be brought. Has not 
thy son, day and night, without leaving thy 
side, sincerely and tenderly nursed thee? 
Hast thou not, by day and night, found open 
the blue e3^e of thy daughter, in which she 


ASLEEP, 


63 


vainly strove to hold back the forth-welling 
tears? Was there not then a deep mist, 
and utter darkness spread over the faces of 
thy children, and over everything around 
thee ?” 

‘‘7 am dead? Lord of life and death, I 
thank Thee that Thou hast fulfilled this so 
great thing in me ; that Thou hast led me to 
such high happiness ; to such great honor ; 
dead, and •happy to be dead ! Thou knowest, 
O Lord, how often that moment stood before 
me, how often I have prayed that Thou Thy- 
self, since I was not able to do it, would 
prepare me for that hour; that Thou 
wouldst send me a soft, blessed death. Now, 
O Lord, that Thou hast heard this as all my 
other prayers. Thou hast in this as in all 
things eternally shown Thyself gracious and 
pitiful. What stood before me is now over. 

Truly, though dead, I have not yet learn- 
ed exactly what death is; but this much I 
know, death is sweet. As one bears a sleep- 
ing child out of a dark chamber into a bright 
spring garden, so hast Thou borne me from 


ASLEEP. 


64 

earth to heaven. But now, loved one, hold 
me no longer back.’' 

Whither wouldst thou go ?” 

‘‘Canst thou ask? To whom else but to 
Him ? All is beautiful and lovely here ; 
these trees, these flowers, this down-stream- 
ing water, this coolness which breathes over 
flowers and trees, and deep into my heart ; 
thyself, thy presence which after so long a 
separation ; after so many tears, I enjoy 
again ; but not even all this satisfies me. 
Himself I must see.” 

. . . ‘‘ Thou wilt see Him, but not un- 

til He comes to thee. Until then be patient. 
I am sent to thee to tell thee that such is 
His will.” 

Now know I for a certainty that I am 
in heaven, for my will yields itself implicitly 
to His without a struggle. — So readily 
could we not submit below. But if thou 
art sent to me from Him, then must He have 
spoken with thee. He has already spoken 
many words with thee ?” 

‘‘ Already many.” 


ASLEEP, 


6S 


O thou truly blessed one ! I see with 
what glory and honor He has crowned thee. 
Between thine image in thy last sickness, and 
that which now stands revealed to me, be- 
tween that perishable flower and the heaven- 
ly blossom, what a difference! No, this 
bloom upon thy. cheek can never fade; this 
light in thine eyes can never be dimmed ; 
thy form shall never bear the impress of age 
Thus, ever wilt thou wander about with me 
here, thou wilt show me the glory of these 
heavenly mansions, and also wilt lead me to 
those other blessed ones who are dear to 
me/^ 

“ Thou wilt see them as soon as thou hast 
seen the Lord.’’ 

. Hearest thou those sounds? 
What may it be ? Strange and wonderful, 
like the mingled roaring of the sea, and 
sweetest flute notes, they come from that 
quarter, and float through the wide heaven. 
Hark ! Now from the other side, melody 
arises, a wholly different note, and yet as 
strange and enrapturing. What may it be ?” 

6 ^ 


66 


ASLEEP. 


They are angel choirs, which from im- 
measurable distance, answer one another/' 

What do they sing?" 

Ever of One who is the theme of eternal 
and endless praise." 

For sometime already, a form moves 
about there." 

Observe it more closely ; and then tell 
me why it attracts thee so." 

Pardon me who am so lately called from 
the earth, an earthly comparison. At the 
home where I was born — thou knowest it 
well, though at the time thou wast no longer 
upon the earth. I had planted a garden. 
As the Spring came, I devoted myself to its 
cultivation, and enjoyed myself over my 
plants, and their beautiful unfoldings. There 
were many trees there, much shrubbery, 
and many flowers ; yet I knew every shoot ; 
I had myself planted and watered it ; each 
in its turn came under my inspection, and 
when it put on its bright green, and blos- 
somed beautifully, and grew thriftily, then 
found I a heart friend in it. This seems to 


A sleep: 


67 


me to be that man, the gardener, in this 
heavenly garden. He moves hither and 
thither quietly, and in mildest radiance, 
but one can see that everything here is 
familiar to him. He casts around on all 
besides, a satisfied and friendly glance, and 
appears to find joy in all creation here. My 
heart! till this moment I have felt within 
me only soft, soothing emotions ; but now a 
tempest is rising in my breast ; I am dizzy : 
heaven with its glory vanishes from my 
sight ; I see him alone. Now pain returns 
again to this heart ; yet in this pain there 
lives a higher blessedness. My soul burns 
with longing to approach Him. Yes, He is 
indeed one known to me, though never be- 
fore seen face to face. Now He turns hither- 
ward and looks upon us; He appears to 
rejoice over us ; His eyes glisten with tears 
of joy ; I can no longer restrain myself ; I 
must away to Him ; I must say to Him that 
I love Him as I never loved aught before ; 
He raises his hands — how ? in those hands 
a mark, and from the mark, rays darting 


68 


ASLEEP, 


forth ? Yes, those are the pierced, the bleed- 
ing hands. He blesses us ! Deep in my 
heart I feel His blessing. Now know I that 
I am in heaven? Now know I that this is 
He?" 

. . . Oh triumphant hour that will out- 

weigh all the light afflictions of earth ! 
‘‘Forever together with the Lord!" Hus- 
band and wife, wife and husband ! Alf tears 
wiped away ; all sorrow banished, — one 
sweet eternal home ; one song of praise ; 
one rapture ; a life that is all bliss, all peace, 
all love ! 



ASLEEP. 


69 



TEARS. 

“ Thank God, bless God, all ye who suffer not 
More grief than ye can weep for. That is well — 

That is light grieving ! lighter, none befell 
Since Adam forfeited the primal lot. 

Tears ! what are tears ? The babe weeps in its cot, 
The mother singing ; at her marriage bell. 

The bride weeps ; and before the oracle 
Of high-faned hills, the poet hath forgot 
That moisture on his cheeks. Thank God for grace, 
Whoever weep ; albeit, as some have done. 

Ye grope tear-blinded, in a desert place. 

And touch but tombs, — look up ! Those tears will run 
Soon, in long rivers, down the lifted face. 

And leave the vision clear, for stars and sun.’* 



CHAPTER V. 

Sflue M mitn x^t Txt jjrt alto 

ID I not see him die? It was on the 



JLy Jewish Sabbath, our preparation day 
for the Resurrection feast. The shadows of 
evening were drawing nigh. A fitting time 
for our good old father to fold his hands, and 
give up his spirit unto God. 

W e had gathered round the bed to watch 
his panting breath, for he was in haste to be 
gone. We could catch the earnest words, 
I want — I want — to depart — and to be — 
with Christ.'' 

Not that he was impatient of life, oh no ; 
that, despite many cares and trials, had been 
so blessed that he had said, one day, I 


(70) 


ASL EEP. 


n 

.should be willing to live my life over again, 
so much of joy has it brought to me.” 

It was the death struggle that had wearied 
him, and the prospect of eternal bliss with 
Him whom he had always served, that made 
him so ready to go. 

While w^e were weeping and praying, 
Nature yielded, and our beloved father gave 
up the ghost. 

Can I forget the moment when he could 
no more answer our love by word, or sign, 
or any motion. Silent he lay, with breath- 
less lips, and closed eyes and still pulse. The 
heart no longer beat ; the blood was con- 
gealed in the veins, the limbs grew rigid, 
and would not obey the will. Was not this 
death ? 

We could take him up and carry him 
^whither we would, and he had not the 
power to resist. We clothed him in white 
robes, and he seemed sleeping very sweetly 
upon his pillow. Our mother sat near him, 
throughout the Lord’s day, reading the 
words of a precious book. Her face was 


72 


ASLEEP, 


^ serene, and her manner calm, and assured ; 
as if she had a beautiful revelation concern- 
ing her beloved one. 

The marks in her Bible proved to us after- 
ward that she had. 

The Lord God formed man of the dust 
of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils 
the breath of life, and man became a living 
souiy 

The Spirit of God hath made me, and 
the breath of the Almighty hath given me 
life." 

‘^Thy dead men shall live, together with 
my dead body shall they arise. Awake and 
sing, ye that dwell in dust, for thy dew is 
as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast 
out the dead." 

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and 
that he shall stand at the latter day upon 
the earth ; and though after my skin, worms 
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see 
God ; whom I shall see for myself, and mine 
eyes shall behold, and not another." 

I am the Resurrection, and the Life, saith 


ASLEEP. 


73 


the Lord ; he that believeth in me, though 
he were dead, yet shall he live ; and whoso- 
ever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never 
die/^ 

Christ has risen from the dead and be- 
come the first-fruits of them that slept. For 
since by man came death, by man came 
also the resurrection of the dead ; for as in 
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be 
made alive.'' 

But if the Spirit of Him that raised up 
Jesus from the dead be in you. He that 
raised lip Christ from the dead shall also 
quicken your mortal bodies, by His Spirit 
that dwelleth in you." 

‘^This day shalt thou be with me in 
Paradise." 

‘‘ He is not dead, but sleepeth." 

Oh ! it was not strange that our mother's 
face was as one transfigured, while she read 
these inspirations from above, — even though 
she sat in the presence of her dearest and 
best, and met no answering glance as she 
gazed tenderly upon him. 

7 


74 


4SLEEP, 


‘‘ The house was radiant with celestial 
light. Is AsraeFs wing so beautiful when- 
ever he comes to bear the Christian soul to 
God ; or were there angels of life throng- 
ing our dwelling, and filling it with heaven- 
ly glory ? 

We had thought of death as a gloomy 
and forbidding phantom, that would bring 
only terror. It was a marvelous thing, 
that he should come to us in this cheerful 
guise instead 6f overwhelming us with 
fright. 

We thanked God for His goodness and 
tenderness toward us, in treating us as the 
little sensitive children who are afraid of 
the dark. 

If for a moment, when we touched our 
father’s brow, the cold made us shudder, 
the Everlasting Arm stole around us, and a 
gentle voice whispered, ‘‘ Let not your heart 
be troubled ; I will not leave you orphans ; 
I will comfort you. Blessed are the dead 
who die in the Lord.” 

There were seasons when we thought of 


ASLEEP. 


7S 


the broken household chain ; the chief link 
removed, so that the strength seemed greatly 
impaired, and then our tears flowed very 
freely ; but one of God’s messengers came 
and spoke to us with consoling sweetness, 
‘‘ The Christian home has its roof partly in 
heaven.” There is blessed communion and 
fellowship with every member departed, 
the visible chain does indeed seem to be 
broken, but it is not so. Can you not feel the 
tension, as your father draws you toward 
the Eternal City? Lift up your hearts. It 
is through these, and not through the na- 
tural eye, that you will still behold the face 
of your beloved, even after the grave shall 
seem to hide it from your view ; it is through 
heart and soul that you shall be cheered, 
and blessed with a nearer, and more sacred 
converse than any mortal words can give. 

Our father s life had been one of earnest 
labor in the vineyard of the Lord. He was 
yet vigorous for the work when a sad casu- 
alty suddenly struck the implements from 
his hand. 


76 


ASLEEP. 


We were regretting that his profitable 
toil for the Master had ceased. It is such 
honor and comfort, to be active for God. 

Had we forgotten that the Resty of Para- 
dise, is but the renewal of strength ; that 
we shall mount up with wings as eagles ; 
that we shall run and not be weary, and 
walk and not faint 

Did we not remember how our great 
Exemplar, between His death and His Re- 
surrection, went and preached to the 
spirits in prison,’' and that He would surely 
find some happy employment for those who 
love his service ! 

Rest, to an immortal soul, is not torpor ; 
activity, to the undying spirit, is not weari- 
ness. Our father would be busy still. While 
the bod}?' was undergoing the necessary 
change, which was to fit it for the re-occu- 
pancy of the soul, that soul would pursue 
such ministry as God appoints for His ran- 
somed ones. There was pleasure in this 
reflection. 

We came to wonder, after a little while, 


ASLEEP. 


77 - 

as one question of a friend in a distant 
country, What is father doing to-day ?’' . . 

That was after we had laid his body in the 
ground ; in the cemetery {the sleeping place /) 
in God's Acre 7' where the Resurrection 
seed is sown ; in “ the chambers of reposoyl^.^ 
as the early Christians called the resting- 
places of their dead, in the field of peace f 
as the sweet Moravian thought styles the 
burial ground. 

What a consecrated spot is that where our 
father’s lonely bed is made ! Many a time 
have I seen him measure with his foot the 
little space of earth where he must one day 
lie. It seemed a satisfaction to him to know 
that the place was chosen, and no dread to 
contemplate it. The great forest trees en- 
circled it. Close by slept one as dear as life. 
Sweet flowers bloomed near. The sinless 
creatures of God, the birds and the squir- 
rels, haunted it, and verdant shrubs ..grew, 
here and there. 

As we wound through the green with 
our precious burden, our mournful proces- 

7 * 


78 


ASLEEP, 


sion became almost a triumphal cortege. 
The sun burst from the threatening clouds, 
and fell in glory upon our father’s coffin. 
Why should we weep and lament ; had he 
not gone to be with the Great King ? would 
he not by and by receive at His hand the 
beautiful crown that had long been prom- 
ised ? 

Our grief at the separation was chastened 
by this knowledge, and our sorrow was 
soothed by the blessed hope that always 
sustains the children of the righteous. 

Prayers for the living were said, and thanks 
given for all who had finished their course 
in faith, and had left us the example of a 
godly life. 

An anthem of praise was sung by sweetest 
voices. The hour and the scene are vividly 
before me at this moment ; the open grave 
with the coffin of our beloved one down in the 
bosom of The earth ; our widowed mother 
boAved beside it ; we children close around ; 
tiie clergy and friends gathered about us, 
with their hearts of sympathy manifest in 


ASLEEP. 


79 


their faces; the morning-glories twined 
around our little brother’s tombstone, and 
swaying in the soft breeze; the blue sky, 
and the sunlight freshly revealed from the 
dark clouds ; the green leaves rustling above 
our heads. I do not forget one feature of 
the hour. 

Often, since that day, we have been to sit 
by our father’s Greenwood bed, and have 
spoken cheerfully to each other of his hap- 
piness in the home beyond the skies. 

We never think of him as lying there ; we 
know that his spirit is active and enjoying. 
The dust is very precious still, and God 
will keep loving watch over it, until the day 
of the coming of the Son of Man to restore 
it to the light. 

Sometimes we grow impatient of the long 
absence of our beloved one, and say, Oh 
that father were with us to-day ! Remem- 
ber how he used to enjoy the pleasant family 
circle ?” 

Then we recall the many years of his so- 
ciety vouchsafed us ; the blessed example 


8o 


ASLEEP. 


that he set ; the wise guidance that he gave ; 
the gentleness that he manifested towards our 
faults, which he kindly, but firmly correct- 
ed ; his sweet patience with our infirmities, 
and his faithful endeavor to help us on to- 
ward the eternal light and peace. 

When we think how long God spared him 
to us, we feel that we have no right to mur- 
mur because we could not keep him with 
us for a few years more. We know that the 
Father of spirits has a right to take His 
children home when He wills their return 
from earth. 

When a loving mother sendeth forth her 
child to nurse, and the nurse hath kept it 
long enough, if the mother take her own 
child home again, hath the nurse any cause 
to grudge, or complain ? How much less 
cause have we to show any token of unwil- 
lingness that God should take home a de- 
parting soul ; the work of His own hands ; 
the plant of His own grafting; who first 
gave it, and will before all others, most lov- 
ingly keep and tend it. There is none knows 


A SLEEP, 


8l 


the love of a mother, but a mother ; there is 
none ^ows the love of God, but God, who 
is love/' 

We are glad to trust that love, for our- 
selves, and for all who are dear to us. 

We are God's care as well when He suf- 
fers us to be troubled, as when He smiles 
upon us, and surely he is a very undutiful 
child who will love and obey his father just 
as long as he pleaseth him, and no longer." 

Our dear father used to quote so much 
for us from godly authors concerning the 
better land ! He often said, 

‘‘What we call death, is but a precious 
exchange of earth for Paradise. We leave 
the society of man, and go to that celestial 
company of angels above, where also a mul- 
titude of our good friends expect us. Our 
separation each from other here, is only for 
a time. Our continuance together in the 
life to come, shall be forever." 

Only a few days before his departure, we 
heard him repeating these quaint words : 

“ We owe God a death. All our life have 


82 


ASLEEP. 


we been gathering manna to comfort us in 
our last agony. What hurt is it going to 
Paradise ? After a while we shall have 
greater joys than now we feel pain. We 
shall go to one of those mansions which 
Christ has gone to prepare for us. Our 
Head is in heaven already to assure us, that 
before it be long we shall follow after. We 
cannot have our happiness unless we go unto 
it. Christ went hot up to glory, but first 
he suffered. Our way to life, is to die with 
Christ. Let not pains dismay us, for we 
are passing from death to life ; from sorrow 
to joy ; from a vale of misery to a Paradise 
of all comfort and consolation. Let not our 
sins dismay us ! Christ hath died for them ; 
who is our advocate with the Father.’' 

The ancient language become well the 
venerable lips. We used to listen with 
reverent attention, as we felt how near to the 
blissful world our dear old father was. What 
a crown of glory was his hoary head ! How 
the light from the Holy Ghost shone out 
from the temple of his body, through the 


ASLEEP. 


83 


windows, as he gazed upon us ! Ah ! there 
is a great mystery in the union of the spirit- 
ual with the corporeal! It impresses us 
strangely when the breath of a good man 
is struggling for release. We are awe- 
stricken when the soul has gone out from 
its earthly tenement whither we cannot 
follow” it until God shall call. It is a merci- 
ful voice that speaks to us at such a moment. 

“ Our friend Lazarus sleepeth.’’ He is 
not deady 



84 


ASLEEP, 


AN ENDED EARTHLY LIFE. 

“ So the pilgrim's staff is broken, 

And the sandals are laid aside." 

“ I am come to the gate," said our father 
“ Will they hear on the other side ?" 

“ I have only a little token, 

' Twas given me long ago ; 

But it came from the dear Redeemer, 
Who liveth and loveth — I know !" 

Softly he whispered the watch-word. 

As he knocked at the gate of the King, 
And I think that the shining angels 
Must have hasted to let him in. 

For just as the terrible shadow 
Was veiling the dear old face. 

There fell o'er its marble features, 

A glory of perfect peace. 

It smoothed away from the forehead 
The folds, and the lines of care. 

And touched, with its brightening halo 
The tresses of silvered hair. 

For a moment the voice of one weeping 
Was hushed at the glorious sight. 

For the fearful shadow had passed away. 
And the evening time was light." 


CHAPTER VI. 


Pi! mjj t\xx ^h»vi0t 0f Mmxl 
ttxx ixnmxcn tUcxtxxV^ 

I T is with an exceeding bitter yearning, 
that I look into the heavens, and cry af- 
ter him who has crossed the Jordan and 
gone up to God. 

Even in view of so glorious a translation 
as that from earth to Paradise, I find myself 
almost willing to recall the Angel ” whom 
God sent to deliver unto me the words of 
eternal life, and to lead me up the steep of 
this rough world, to the Holy City above. 

How, otherwise, can I pursue my pilgrim- 
age that was, with such a guide, compara- 
tively easy ! 

‘‘ A pastor is the deputy of Christ, for the 
reducing of man to the obedience of God.'' 

8 (85) 


86 


A SLEEP, 


If our blessed Lord Jesus had not seen our 
great need, He would not have left His vice- 
gerents upon the earth, when He himself was 
received up into Heaven. There must be 
some to sit daily teaching in the temple, and 
calling our minds away from worldly things, 
or we shall forget our high destiny, and be 
content to grovel here below. 

The good pastor is in God’s stead to his 
people, holding out his threatenings to warn, 
and His promises to allure. If he is of the 
spirit of his dear Lord, ‘‘ he is not only a 
father to his flock, but also possesseth him- 
self thoroughly of the opinion, carrying it 
about with him as fully as if he had begot 
his whole parish.” 

‘‘ My little children ” is the constant 
thought of his heart, and the frequent ex- 
pression from his lips. 

His eye is over them, as the eye of a moth- 
er watches her little family, to see what of 
good or of ill may befall. It is his province 
to detect the evil, and try to remedy it, and 
to foster every worthy disposition. 


ASLEEP, 


87 


He is to give account for the souls en- 
trusted to him, therefore he is always on the 
alert, to catch them away from Satan, and 
his defilements, and to present them pure and 
chaste, unto God. 

The good pastor is an example to his flock. 
He walks in meekness and lowliness, follow- 
ing the footsteps of the Great Shepherd of 
the sheep. He is gentle toward the way- 
ward, and wandering, going out after them 
when they are far astray, and bringing them, 
with rejoicing, back again to the fold. 

He ‘^is not an hireling, but he careth for 
the sheep, and never fleeth when he seeth 
the wolf coming.'' 

Such was the beloved Shepherd whom it 
pleased God to remove from us — the time 
since seems too long to compute. 

‘‘When one has heard a voice that is as 
the voice of the Good Shepherd, and has 
learned to know, and love, and obey it 
when one has been led as by a hand divine, 
into holiest paths of peace, and suddenly the 
voice is silent, and the hand falls from one's 


88 


ASLEEP. 


grasp, who shall describe tne groping and 
the anguish as one listens in vain for the fa- 
miliar tone, and blindly beats the air to try 
and find the old support. 

If rightly appreciated, and rightly exercis- 
ed, there is no relationship upon earth more 
close, and blessed, than that between a pas- 
tor and his flock. Justified by Scriptural 
warrant, a learned bishop has compared it to 
the marriage bond : 

So near, so delicate, so sacred.'’ 

Another says, The word of God coun- 
tenances a most affectionate intercourse be- 
tween pastor and people. He is the com- 
mon friend and comforter ; he is called to 
witness the joys and sorrows of the family, 
and the individual. It is his voice that con- 
secrates in the first da3^s of life, its whole fu- 
ture course to the gracious Saviour, and his 
that utters over the closing grave the ac- 
cents of triumphant faith. How can he have 
a heart, and not feel everything, else to be 
as nothing in comparison with the eternal 
peace of those to whom he is thus allied." 


ASLEEP, 


He need not fear to indulge too warmly the 
true love of their souls ; it will never inter- 
fere with his allegiance to his Master. It is 
the very spirit of that Master. 

The Son of God came upon earth, and liv- 
ed and died, simply because He loved our 
guilty and wretched race ; and it is simply 
because he loves them, that He guards His 
church, and makes it victorious. He follows 
Christ, in whose heart burns the same wish 
to save. 

If a Christian pastor be faithful, he must 
love every one of his people, and be ready to 
make many and great sacrifices to that love. 
If he be faithful, he must be earnest in his 
supplications that they may all come to the 
knowledge of the truth, and be stablished, 
strengthened, settled therein. If he be faith- 
ful he must strive so to model his instruc- 
tions, his exhortations, his warnings, and his 
consolations, that the needs of all may be 
supplied, and the word of truth rightly di- 
vided, and said, neither so harshly as to 
loose the stamp of affection, nor so gently as 
8 * 


90 


ASLEEP, 


to glide away without leaving its mark upon 
the conscience. This is our conduct in oth- 
er matters, towards those whom we love, 
those in whose prosperity lie our hope and 
joy ; and it is here as everywhere, the cause 
of real and discreet kindness. 

To such desires and endeavors of the pas- 
tor, ought the desires and endeavors of the 
people to respond. 

If they have confidence in him, let them 
remember that they are the subject of his 
most frequent and fervent prayers ; and let 
their corresponding supplications call down 
upon him and upon his labors, the continual 
dew of the Divine blessing. Let them believe 
that in no way can they afford him so much 
happiness as when they cordially accept the 
message which he brings, and, in their daily 
walk, give glory to Him whom he serves ! 

Oh ! the beauty and blessedness of such 
a bond ! 

I cannot recall without deepest emotion, 
the simple paternal, Christ-like character of 
him who has gone. 


ASLEEP. 


91 


With the thought of the quiet form resting 
on the bosom of the earth, there come mem- 
ories of active Christian duties, that have 
well earned repose. 

O ! folded hands, so oft upraised to bless ! 
O ! silent lips, once breathing out inspired 
words of hope and love, and God's forgiv- 
ing grace ! O ! gentle, tender heart, that 
beat so warmly in response to others' joys 
or woes ! 

When one has faithfully done his work 
here below, and our dear Lord, seeing, calls 
to his reward, Come thou up higher," ought 
we to be so mournful in our selfish regrets ? 

If he whom my soul laments, had been 
necessary to its advancement toward heav- 
en, would he not have been longer spared 
to guide and bless ? 

It is only when I sit dowm calmly and 
earnestly to reflect upon the Providence 
that shapes our lives, that I look with a sort 
of resignation upon the removal of this 
dear friend. 

To sorrow with a rebellious spirit is to 


92 


ASLEEP. 


doubt the Divine Wisdom and Goodness, 
that always does for us better than we can 
either ask or think. And yet there are mo- 
ments that seem very like rebellion to the 
will of God, when one says, I shall never 
recover from this grief,’' ‘‘ If I could, by 
speaking the wish, I would have things as 
they once were.” 

Let me dwell with gratitude upon the 
past, and look with bright anticipation to- 
ward the future. 

I see, in the long ago, one to whom I had 
access as to the Friend above. In every 
doubt that beset my soul ; in every scruple 
of conscience, which my ignorance could 
not settle ; in deep grief that needed com- 
fort ; in exuberant joy, that should be sub- 
dued ; in the time of sickness, when God 
makes it a duty for us to call for the elders 
of the Church to pray over, us — in every 
event of life, it was my great privilege to 
go to Him who was set over me in the Lord, 
and to ask his holy offices of counsel and 
support. 


A SLEEP. 


93 


And this confidence was always met with 
the truest sympathy and help. Like the great 
High Priest who is touched with the feeling 
of our infirmities, and who never turned 
away from any earnest cry, so this follower 
of Jesus imitated his Gracious Lord in the 
benevolence of his spirit and acts. 

When any toilsome task was to be per- 
formed, and we gathered to the labor, he 
sat in the midst of us, a beloved and be- 
nign presence, to make things sunny and 
light, and to enrich us with the finest gold, 
while we wrought for that which perisheth. 

He brought us flowers for the adornment 
of the holy temple, and watched with inter- 
est as we twined them, and he interspersed, 
with the perfumes of our garlands, the bet- 
ter ' incense of hallowed thought, which, 
even after this long, long time, has not 
ceased its fragrance. 

He pressed our hands as he passed out 
from among us, and said, Dear heart ! 
dear heart!’' as if the heavenly love so filled 
his breast that it must needs overflow. And 


94 


ASLEEP. 


— best proof of enduring affection— when 
he could no longer preach, because the 
fainting flesh was weak, he went daily alone 
to pray for us before the altar, where we 
had so often worshiped together. How 
can I give you up, my people, my people !” 
This was the hardest tie to break, so thor- 
oughly was his soul knit unto our souls. 

If the retrospect of consecrated hours 
and sweet communion is happy, how thrice 
blessed is the looking forward to the eternal 
union ! 

Here we have walked in the house of 
God as friends, and have taken sweet coun- 
sel together.'' There we shall dwell forever 
where is unceasing worship and praise. 

Here we have spoken to each other of 
Him who was slain for our redemption ; 
there we shall follow the Lamb whitherso- 
ever He goeth, and shall continue the won- 
drous theme that occupied our souls on 
earth. 

Those who have sought holy converse 
below, will love it above, and Avill be per- 


ASLEEP. 


95 

mitted a perfect communion and fellow- 
ship. 

It is not strange that we sorrow here, be- 
cause we see the beloved face no more. It 
is weary waiting for that which has so often 
blessed, and strengthened and consoled us. 
We long for the companionship that is dear- 
est and best, and most like that which the 
disciples had with our Lord Jesus. 

But then, we have not St. John's long, 
lonely pilgrimage to expect for ourselves. 
Our age is but a span ; at the furthest limit 
of fourscore years. We are nearly there. 
Shall we spend the time of our sojourning 
here in murmurings, because some of our 
jewels have been taken to adorn the man- 
sion which our dear Lord has gone to pre- 
pare for us ? 

We have not lost the beloved heart, 
the beloved voice. We can feel it 
through the skies ; we can hear it from 
the grave. 

Our pastor being dead, yet speaketh." 
We will rejoice and be glad. We will lift 


ASLEEP. 


96 

up our heads, for our redemption draweth 
nigh, and we go to meet him whom our 
soul loveth. 



t 


ASLEEP. 


97 



COMFORT. 

“ Speak low to me, my Saviour, low and sweet 
From out the hallelujahs, sweet and low. 

Lest I should fear, and fall, and miss Thee so. 
Who art not missed by any that entreat. 

Speak to me, as to Mary at Thy feet — 

And if no precious gums my hands bestow, 
Let my tears drop like amber, while I go 
In reach of Thy divinest voice complete 
In humanest affection — thus in sooth. 

To lose the sense of losing ! As a child 
Whose song-bird seeks the wood for evermore. 
Is sung to in its stead by mother’s mouth ; 

Till, sinking on her breast, love-reconciled, 

He sleeps the faster that he wept before.” 



9 



CHAPTER VII. 


“ilflittr, Him sitoutl Ira Htf oi IfSfttiS, ilisi 

ilutliw." 

O come to one’s last hour without the 



1 comfort of this blessed presence, is 
what I can scarcely conceive of ; nor .can I 
imagine the grief of such a loss, excepting 
by contrast with the joy of such a posses- 


sion. 


A mother’s face, the earliest, sweetest re- 
membrance, serene, beautiful, bending over 
us like the face of an angel. “ A mother’s 
kiss, best thing that earthly is.” A mother’s 
tender, watchful care, that surpasses in faith- 
fulness all other charge but that which God 
gives to those who bear us in their hands, 
lest we hurt our foot against a stone.” A 


(98) 


ASLEEP, 


99 


mother's love, likest to the dear love of 
God, who gave himself to death that we 
might live. A mother's patience, that bears 
with our childish whims, and never wearies 
of our exactions, and listens with untired 
ear to all our grievances, and puts the heart 
of sympathy in our little ills and joys, and 
gives us precept upon precept, that we may 
not forget the wise monitions, and helps us 
through all the years by a worthy example. 

Think of a home all fragrant with par- 
ental thoughtfulness." A home the image 
of Jerusalem the golden." A family that 
is ‘‘ part of the whole family in heaven and 
earth." The mother holds the little hands 
in prayer, teaches the weak knees their 
kneeling," and guides the infant soul through 
faith in her, to faith in the Divine Parent. 
It is her province to stamp the first impres- 
sions, which last through life. 

The old man, come to his hoary years, 
thinks of the prayer beside his mother’s 
knees ; and the aged woman recalls the ma- 
ternal hand upon her head in blessing, as 


lOO 


ASLEEP. 


her baby tongue used to lisp the sweet 
words : 

Now I lay me down to sleep, 

I pray the Lord my soul to keep.” 

This precious mother-influence is felt the 
world over. The beauty of the Virgin 
Mary’s character is imputed to every pure 
matron, since that sweet Madonna, whom 
artists love to paint, and poets to sing, 
and all hearts to praise, and whom the 
Holy Ghost calls Blessed among women.” 

Nearly all the worthies of the world, both 
in ancient and modern times, attribute the 
good that is in them (under God) to the fos- 
tering care of a mother. 

It is sweet to owe to her, who by untold 
pain has brought us into life, the greater 
part of the joy, and blessedness and value 
of our existence. 

There is no admixture in the love of that 
dear one who has carried us in her womb, 
and nourished us from her breast. It is an 
unnatural mother who does not, under every 
circumstance, cling to her child. Satan, 


A SLEEP. loi 

rather than God, controls her who would 
cast away her oflFspring in sorrow or distress, 
or even in shame and great wickedness. 
How dwelleth the love of God in such a 
mother? 

It is toward the wretched and sinful and 
lost that the Infinite Parent stretches out 
His hands. To these his beseeching, tender 
voice calls, Come unto me,'' '' Not the 
righteous, but sinners." For them he yearns 
as never for the safe and undefiled. 

And mothers such as she who bore the 
Lamb of God, will stand by their children, 
though the world heap contumely upon 
them, and treat them with utter scorn, and 
crucify them with eyes that pierce like nails, 
and words that sting like cruel thorns. 

And mothers that have within them the 
spirit of the blessed Lord Jesus, will find no 
room in their souls for other than gentlest, 
most loving thoughts toward those who 
look to them for next best grace to God's 
dear smile. 

I cannot think of earth without my moth- 

9 * 


102 


ASLEEP, 


er, excepting when I weep with those who 
weep, and see how the sun is darkened for 
them, and the flowers seem to bloom no 
more, and the whole aspect is Avintry. Then 
I say to my heart, What if this were my 
very own ! She who kissed me so tenderly 
last night, and said, ‘ God bless you, my 
child, and give you happy dreams !’ My 
friend’s beloved mother was sleeping so 
peacefully, while her daughter wept. 

Tears waken her no more. There was a 
sheaf of wheat upon her coffin, and her 
white hair, like a crown, encircled her brow. 
How beautiful she was with that last touch 
which the angel gives to the Christian dead ! 
Her’s was a happy exit ; an abundant en- 
trance into the Holy City. And yet I know 
that much of the glory of this lower world 
has with her gone from the old homestead, 
where the children sit yearning to-day. 
Life is not the same as it used to be when 
she was here. The lustre is dimmed. 

I have another memory that brings to me 
the possible by and by. A calm, pure face 


ASLEEP. 


103 

vanished from those who are very dear to 
me. 

It was on Holy Week/' when we com- 
memorate our Gracious Redeemer's suffer- 
ings and death. Fitting season for one who 
loved Him, to join Him^in Paradise ! 

We were looking forward to Easter, the 
Resurrection Morn, with holy expectation 
and delight. The day is always one of 
great rejoicing. The bright spring flowers 
adorn the churches, and the children are 
out with banners and sacred emblems, and 
sing, 

“ Green Easter fields ! 

Fair Easter fields ! 

Heaven’s first ripe fruit 
Death conquered yields. 

In church-yards Avide the seed we sow, 

Beneath the Cross the wheat shall grow. 

One Easter day death’s reign shall end, 

And golden sheaves shall heavenward send. 

Hail the blest morn by whose glad light 
Angels shall reap the harvest white.” 

Ought that Easter morning to have come 
to us with less of joy, because our beloved 
was ‘‘ asleep in Jesus " ? 


104 


ASLEEP, 


What if our lot had been cast in an age 
before the glorious rising of our blessed Sa- 
viour ! 

Then we should have had faint hope of 
the dawn, and of the blissful awakening, 
compared with that sure confidence that 
springs from the open tomb, and the great 
stone rolled away, and the grave clothes ly- 
ing, and the angels sitting where the sacred 
body had been, and Jesus himself speaking 
with livdng voice — ‘‘ Why weepest thou ?’* 

I think the season brought its precious 
consolation to those whose tears mingled 
with the Easter smile. 

Strange, that when our dear ones walk in 
white, and carry in their hands victor palms, 
and sing songs of triumph above, we are 
clothed in black, and go about mourning, 
and have no voice for melody ! 

No. Not strange. Ah ! how I should 
miss my mother ! 

No more to go when I am weary, and lay 
my head upon her breast, and feel her hand 
stroking my hair, and play the little petted 


ASLEEP, 


105 


child again ; no more to seek her wisdom, 
when my own seems to me such utter folly 
that I dare not be guided by it ; no more to 
see her in the old familiar place, where she 
sits as one enthroned, while her children 
rise up and call her blessed no more, 
when I am sick, to hear her step about the 
room, and to feel that, though all other light 
is shut out, it is not dark where mother 
is,'' and that God seems nearer when she 
is beside my bed. 

And yet, if I were come to my last hour, 
it would be sad to leave her here, in this 
cold world. It is rare to find a beloved 
disciple" to whom, in our solicitude, we can 
confide our dearest treasure. 

God's care is over all. He will provide." 
We know that. But even our blessed Lord 
Jesus went not away, but first He turned 
his dying eyes toward her who gave him 
birth, and with his almost latest breath, en- 
trusted His mother to St. John, whom He 
loved. 

I cannot tell which I should choose, with 


io6 


A SLEEP, 


God's permission, whether to go first, and 
know, when I am dying, that she will stay 
to weep — or whether to ask to stand beside 
my mother, when the angel comes to bear 
her to the home where tears are wiped 
away. 

The separation is the sorrow, in either 
event. How short that will be at the long- 
est ! And still we bear it impatiently. 

I said the other day, ‘‘ I could endure my 
mother's absence for all time, if it would 
bring her rest from wearisome toil, and in- 
sure her every earthly luxury and enjoy- 
ment." 

This makes me think that, when He calls 
who has all rest, and joy, and peace, and 
bliss to give, and who has promised it to 
his beloved, I cannot dare to weep with 
very bitter grief, though left without the 
fullness of such joy as children only know 
through mother's love. 

There is one holy comfort : that if I live 
my mother's life that has been hid with 
Christ in God," the time will surely come 


ASLEEP. 


107 


when, with that mother dear, and with that 
Christ who saved His own, and ours and us, 
and with that God in whom all fullness 
dwells,’’ I shall forever live, and shall be 
satisfied,” 



io8 


ASLEEP, 



“THY WILL BE DONE.“ 

“ My God, my Father, while I stray 
Far from my home, in life’s rough way, 

O, teach me from my heart to say 

‘ Thy will be done/ 

“ If Thou should’st call me to resign 
What most I prize — it ne’er was mine, 

I only yield Thee what is thine, 

‘ Thy will be done/ 

“ Let but my fainting heart be blest 
With Thy sweet Spirit for its guest. 

My God, to Thee I leave the rest, 

‘ Thy will be done/ 

“ Renew my will, from day to day. 

Blend it with thine and take away 
All that now makes it hard to say 

‘ Thy will be done/ 




CHAPTER VIII. 




** ttxmfm, Ux jj^ hxoxc ml xcUxn iUx 

W^ix^txx xif t\xx Ixon^x com^tb/^ 

A S I head this chapter, there comes a 
wail from the sea-side that thrills eve- 
ry fibre of my own soul, and makes me faint 
and tremulous. 

‘‘ Drowned on Friday last, sweet Lucy C. 
Carried out by the treacherous waves with 
which she was sporting in her innocent 
mirth. Taken in sight of mother and sister, 
and friends, in the flush of her youthful beau- 
ty, and returned to them white, and cold, and 
dead.'' O, God, have mercy upon us ! If I 
am in bitterness, I who have but met, and 
loved this precious child, what is not the an- 
guish of those who are bound to her by ho- 

(109) 


10 


no 


ASLEEP, 


liest ties of relationship, and who have 
known, and felt, the sweet influence of her 
nineteen summers? 

It requires all the faith of a soul that has 
trusted God from infancy, to accept unques- 
tioningly such a mysterious Providence, and 
to say through sobs, and wretchedness, He 
doeth all things well ; Though He slay me, 
yet will I trust Him/' 

The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath 
taken away ; blessed be the name of the 
Lord." 

Oh ! that such faith, and trust, and com- 
fort, may be vouchsafed those who mourn 
this beloved one ! 

A few days since, a little darling, three 
years old, was playing in the attic of a house 
near us. He opened the door of a small 
room that inclosed the skylight. Prattling to 
his sister about ‘‘ going to sleep," he stepped 
upon the glass, and fell through, down, down, 
striking his head upon the marble floor of 
the lower hall. 


ASLEEP. 


Ill 


Until four o'clock in the morning he lin- 
gered, and then breathed out his little life. 

The mother was nearing her eternal home. 
The child's coffin was brought to the bed- 
side of the dying woman, that she might 
look upon her baby gone to sleep." 

Who shall say that there was not mercy in 
this permission of the Good Shepherd for 
her tender lamb to reach the green pastures 
before the mother was called. 

My friend had a terror of death. He was 
a faithful Christian minister, and had a good 
hope of eternal joy in the presence of our 
dear Lord. Yet there was that natural 
shrinking from the approach of the last 
enemy, which, with some temperaments, 
amounts to monomania. 

On his way to a neighboring town, there 
was a collision of two trains of cars, and the, 
timorous soul was translated to Paradise 
without one twinge of fear. 

How tender towards our infirmities is our 
Almighty Parent! 


II2 


A SLEEP. 


A beloved cousin dreaded the weariness 
to herself, and the ‘^trouble to her friends,” 
of a long illness, which she had cause to fear 
from pulmonary symptoms. 

As she walked in the garden, the angel 
met her, and almost before she could ex- 
press her thanks for the goodness that called 
her so speedily, she was in the spirit 
land. 

Can we fail to perceive in these individual 
providences the watchful care of Him who 
loves us? 


A ship freighted with passengers went 
across the waters toward a distant land. 
Hearts were buoyant with hope and antici- 
pation. So much of beauty in the far coun- 
try ! So many pleasures ! 

I met a mourner going about the streets. 
‘‘ Sister, and brother, and child, had gone 
down in the mighty waters. The ship had 
foundered with all her passengers. It was 
too dreadful for heart to bear ! 


ASLEEP. 


II3 

It ts dreadful ! The soul shrinks from such 
woe. 

But may we not think that, with many, 
the exchange of the earthly good was for 
that far country, whose delights shall never 
fail, and can we not hope that in their dire 
extremity, as the penitent cried, ‘‘ Lord 
save us, we perish,’’ our blessed Lord Jesus 
Himself came to them walking upon the 
waters, and lifted them up from the peril of 
the eternal deep^ to firm footing upon the 
Rock of Ages ! 

The house of a good old lady burst into 
flames in the dead of the night. Mother and 
daughter were hedged in by a wall of fire. 
The rest of the inmates escaped. These 
could not be saved ! For a moment there 
was hope, as one of them stepped upon a 
balcony, where the firemen might possibly 
reach her. Love called her back within the 
window, to be saved, or to perish with her 
companion. At that instant the roof fell in, 
and the two were beyond rescue, 

10* 


ASLEEP. 


1 14 

It is a fearful thing to the memory of the 
survivors. And yet who knows but this ap- 
^ parent martyrdom was the sweetest release 
from the prison of the flesh, and the perse- 
cutions of a sinful world ! 

In the midst of the flames was one walk- 
ing with them, like unto the Son of Man. 

His presence can give cheer and relief in 
the hour of keenest anguish. 

I would not dare to choose the manner of 
exit from this life. That which we call hard, 
and bitter, our blessed Lord can make pleas- 
ant and sweet. Have not His saints sung 
praises at the stake, when the spectators 
were in heaviness 1 Oh ! be sure He forsakes 
not His beloved in the time of need. No 
torment can touch them but at His will, and 
what He willeth is for our good in all things. 

Yes, and what He permits shall work to- 
gether for our good, if we love Him and try 
to keep His holy law. 

That which man’s carelessness brings, of 
^sudden destruction, is the most sorroAvful ill 
to bear — the calamities that put a whole 


ASLEEP, 


II5 

community into mourning; but the over- 
ruling Power, that has not seen fit to avert 
the evil, makes us patient and submissive at 
thought of God, while we condemn the 
carelessness of men. 

Kneeling at prayer, in her chamber, a 
woman was found dead. How blessed ! that 
the breath of life should go out with the 
breath of devotion ! 

To those of her relatives who linger here, 
the association is full of joy. 

But the Christian soul is praying without 
ceasing, if it obeys the Heavenly law, and we 
may think of it under this aspect, though 
it may be cut off in the midst of what may 
appear most incongruous occupation. 

The work that God sets us to do in the 
world, is, in His sight, worship, and while 
our hands do it, with all their might, our 
spirits may soar as near to His throne of 
Grace, as if we were on bended knee in the 
secrecy of our closet. 


ii6 


ASLEEP. 


An old man went daily to the market- 
place to sell his vegetables. He took ad- 
vantage of no one,” but was just and upright 
in all his dealings. He was up before the 
light to gather his produce, and plodded a 
long weary way to town, and spent the dull 
hours amid the strife of tongues, and the 
jostlings of busy people. His mind was set 
on treasure above, and what labor here pro- 
cured, went to the support and comfort of 
his orphan grandchildren. One day the 
stall held a silent occupant, and the noisy 
people were hushed for the moment with 
awe, and the grandchildren were for a sec- 
ond time orphaned. 

Another man, as aged, was every morning 
in the house of God, joining in the prayers 
and praises. His seat was never vacant. 
On Wednesday the clergyman was about to 
begin the service, when he saw his old friend 
sinking down upon the floor, and going to 
him he held him in his arms, and received 
his last sigh. 

Despite the outward view, these two 


ASLEEP. 


117 

cases are equal in* sublimity. If death but 
finds us in the way of duty, with our hearts 
set on God and things Divine, he cannot 
come upon us unawares, or suddenly. It is 
only an unprepared soul that is surprised. 

And for us, who mourn the quick depar- 
ture of beloved ones, it ought to be some 
consolation that they have escaped the trial 
of days and weeks of suffering. 

It is natural to desire last words, and sa- 
cred communings, and parting endearments 
that we may have to dwell upon, when we 
yearn in vain for the real presence ; but if 
we could be unselfish, Ave should wish to 
spare our dear ones the rending of heart 
from heart, and should rejoice that they step 
immediately from earth to Paradise, where 
they look for our coming to meet them in 
glory. 

It is very sad to watch the wasting away 
of the flesh, and the gradual but sure decay 
of one whom we dearly love. 

“ Ah ! to wait for death ! 

To see one’s idol with the signature 


ASLEEP. 


ii8 


Of the destroyer stamped upon the brow, 

And know that it is doomed beyond all hope ; 

To watch it while it fades ; to see the form 
That once was beauty’s own, become a corpse 
In all but breathing, and to meet the eyes 
A hundred times a day — while the heart bleeds — 
With smiles of smooth dissembling, and with words 
Cheerful as morning, and to do all this 
Through weeks, and weary months, till one half 
longs 

To see the spell dissolved, and feel the worst 
That death can do : Can there be misery 
Sadder than this T* 


Neither for myself, nor for those whom 
God has given me, will I choose what shall 
be. 

“ Why should I choose ? for in thy love 
Most surely I descry 

A gentler death than I myself 
Should dare to ask to die ? 

But when, or where, or by what pain. 

All this is one to me ; 

I only long for such a death 
As most will honor thee. 

Long life dismays me, by the sense 
Of my own weakness scared ; 

And by thy Grace, a sudden death 
May not be unprepared. 


A SLEEP. 


II9 

One wish is hard to be unwished, — 

That I at least might die 
Of grief for having wronged with sin 
Thy spotless majesty.” 

Have our precious ones been taken from 
us by violence ? Do we feel that no suffer- 
ing has been equal to theirs, and no sorrow 
equal to ours. 

Behold the Lamb of God. 

Behold the Cross. 



120 


ASLEEP. 


NOT KNOWING. 

“ I KNOW not what shall befall me, 

God hangs a mist o’er my eyes, 

And each step in my onward path 
He makes new scenes to rise, 

And every joy He sends me 
Comes as a sweet surprise. 

Oh, restful, blissful ignorance ! 

’Tis blessed not to know ; 

It keeps me still in those arms 
Which will not let me go. 

And hushes my soul to rest 

In the bosom that loved me so ! 

So I go on — not knowing ; 

I would not if I might. 

Rather walking with God in the dark 
Than going alone in the light ; 

Rather walking with Him by faith 
Than walking alone by sight. 

My heart shrinks back from trials 
Which the future may disclose. 

Yet I never had a sorrow 

But what the dear Lord chose ; 

So I send the coming tears back 
With the whispered word — ^ He knows* V 



CHAPTER IX. 


** I fettour th»t tna lxvx% that i 

iSih^U xx^t 0ut 0f th0 0Mth in th^ In^’t ilnjjt mA 
iOihnW he xmxxA ngnin with wg ^hin^ nufl 
MX (BxA in mg fle^h ; gen m& ^ mpxU i^hnW 
bxhxU liim, net with etheVt hut with the^^e i^inme 
egeisi/’ 

HAVE chosen the ancient translation 



JL of these precious verses from the book 
of Job, because it seems so especially to 
convey the idea of a particular resurrec- 
tion of this very body,” which is the doc- 
trine of the majority of the Christian 
world. 

From my babyhood have I been taught the 
consoling truth, that when we lay our belov- 
ed ones down in the dust of the earth, it is 


(I2l) 


122 


ASLEEP, 


not to an eteiTial sleep ; that as part of the 
creature made in God's own image, the 
body as well as the soul, shall, through the 
body and blood of our crucified Redeemer, 
be preserved unto everlasting life ; that al- 
though because of the transgression of the 
first Adam, it must see corruption, and so be 
purged of the mortal element begotten of 
sin, yet by the righteousness of the second 
Adam, it shall be restored to its primitive 
condition before God. 

It would seem superfluous to attempt to 
strengthen this fact in the minds of men, but 
for the false notion entertained by some, that 
the body that shall be after the Resurrection, 
is altogether of an ethereal nature, and has 
nothing to do with the tabernacle of clay, 
in which we have sojourned here below. 

To me the thought is too sad to have one 
moment’s lodgment within my breast. I 
repel it as I would any other heresy. 

I go back to the old Scripture testimony 
concerning Enoch whom God translated, and 
Elijah whom he received up into the clouds 


ASLEEP, 


123 


in the very form that was familiar to the 
eyes of Israel. But I dwell with exceeding 
joy and trust, upon the transaction of eight- 
een hundred years ago at Bethany, when the 
Lord Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven 
with the very body that bore the cruel im- 
print of the nails and the spear, the very 
body that had lain in the tomb of Joseph 
of Arimathea, the very body that had come 
forth from the sepulchre, and had been han- 
dled by the disciples to test if it were a 
spirit, or really flesh and bones. 

Oh ! there is conviction in this spectacle 
of the Perfect Man going up, body and soul, 
to the right hand of the Majesty on High ! 
There needs no other proof that we too 
shall rise, and stand in the presence of God, 

clothed upon,’’ with this garb of flesh, 
which we put off at death, and take on again 
at the last great day, ‘‘ like unto His own 
glorious body.” 

Think what honor has come to us men, 
and to us women, through Jesus Christ our 
Lord, who was ‘‘ made in the likeness of a 


124 


ASLEEP. 


man,” and was born of a pure virgin.” Is 
not this body so sanctified and ennobled by 
this image and indwelling, that it can never 
perish ? 

I will give no answer to the infidel philos- 
opher who meets me with the suggestion, 

Once in seven years does every particle of 
the human frame change ; that which you 
are now you were not seven years ago ; that 
which you are now, you shall not be seven 
years hence.” What matters it? ‘'God 
giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and 
to every seed His own body.” 

The hand that created, can restore. The 
scattered particles, freed from the corrupti- 
ble element, may all be brought together 
once more, to compose the resurrection 
body. 

I care nothing for scientific arguments. 
The faith of a little child can put the 
most plausible aside, by the simple words, 
“ In the beginning God created the heavens 
and the earth.” The lips of the Christian, 
yes, and the lips of the impenitent, cry out. 


ASLEEP. 


125 


“Almighty God/' and in this ejaculation is 
an acknowledgment that all things are possi- 
ble to Him with whom we have to do. I thank 
God the Holy Ghost, for such precious re- 
velations as have come to us through the 
inspired book ; the record of the raising of 
Lazarus and the widow's son, and of the dam- 
sel, all of whom our Lord Jesus restored to 
their friends in the old beloved garb — the 
earnest of that glad re-union when He shall 
awake us out of our long sleep, and give us 
back to each other, heart to heart, and face 
to face. Oh ! the safeguard of this conscious- 
ness that this very body must stand in the 
presence of God and of His holy angels ! 
Who dare defile that which is the temple 
of the Holy Ghost, and is made to glorify 
God ? Shall these feet go in the way of 
sinners, and add more pangs to that “ via 
dolorosaf trodden by the pierced feet, for 
our redemption ! Shall these hands be 
stretched out in greediness of worldly gain, 
or honor, or pleasure, when the sacred hands 
were only outspread to heal and bless. 


126 


ASLEEP, 


Shall this body be given up to worldly lusts 
and passions, and made food for the worm 
that never dieth ? How shall it ever ‘‘ be like 
unto His glorious body,'' unless we strive 
with all our might to keep ourselves pure 
from the defilements of earth ? ‘‘ Let not sin 
reign in your mortal bodies." Our feet 
must be shod with the preparation of the 
Gospel of Peace. How beautiful this will 
make them ! Our hands must hold ever by 
the Divine hand, and cling to the Cross 
of Christ, lest unclean hands grasp and 
soil them, and things less sacred than the 
crucifixion tree, claim our embrace. 

This body must be washed in the laver 
of regeneration, that the stain of the old birth 
may be removed, and that our Lord may be 
satisfied with the travail of His soul. 

Shall we disappoint Him who is ^Hhe 
Saviour of the body," as well as of the soul ? 

At what cost did he not redeem it ? 

Oh ! that it may ‘‘ be preserved blameless 
unto His coming !" 

Oh ! that we may glorify God in " it ; 


ASLEEP. 


127 

It is with a view of the sacredness of 
the body, that we pay such honor to our 
dead. We wrap them in fine linen, and put 
costly perfumes about them. We sit beside 
them watching, so long as we can have 
them near. We bear them gently to the 
grave, with holy words and solemn hymns. 
We hide them in our mother’s lap, and 
cover them with her skirt.” 

We erect monuments to their memory, 
and go often to their lowly bed, and recount 
to each other their virtues. 

From the sweet German author I gather 
the precious thought that possibly this trib- 
ute of love and respect for our sleeping 
dead, is not unobserved by their departed 
spirits. Husband and wife are looking down 
from above, upon the burial ground. The 
husband says, The place is familiar to me, 
it is the church-yard where I placed thy 
mortal part, which was given back to the 
earth. The place became dear to me; I 
often sought it, and kneeling upon the grave, 


128 


ASLEEP, 


raised my eyes hitherward, where we both 
are now, 

‘‘Among beautiful trees and flowers, I 
thought, may she be wandering there ; 
among trees and flowers shall her body rest 
here. So a flower-garden and a wilderness 
of blossoms sprang up, and every beautiful 
thing which the anniversary brought with 
it adorned thy grave/* 

The wife responds — 

“ I knew it well ; look thitherward now. 
What seest thou ?** 

“ Near thy grave another is open, the 
church-yard gate stands open, a corpse is 
borne forward ; our children follow. Do 
ye weep, loved hearts, so bitterly? Could 
ye see us as we see you, ye would not weep, 
or at the most only for longing. The body 
— my body — is lowered ; now they cast a 
handful of dust upon the coffin. The grave 
is closed ; now rests my dust by thine. Go 
home now, ye loved ones, and may the fore- 
taste of that heavenly peace which we enjoy, 
glide to your souls. But return hitherward 


ASLEEP. 


129 


often, and seek the grave of your old parents. 
When ye meet and pray there, we will be 
near you, and bring you heavenly gifts from 
the Lord. Henceforth take His hand as ye 
go. He will guide you safely. Your old 
parents have proved this ! And one day will 
He bring us all together again.’' 

Amen. Thus it will surely be.” 



4 


130 


ASLEEP, 


THIS BODY. 

*' Dust to dust, it mingleth well among the sacred soil ; 

It is scattered by the winds, it is wafted by the waves ; it 
mixeth with herbs and cattle ; 

But God hath watched these morsels, and hath guided 
them in care : 

Each waiting soul must claim his own, when the Arch- 
angel soundeth. 

And all the fields, and all the hills, shall move, a mass 
of life. 

Bodies numberless crowding on the land, and covering 
the trampled sea. 

Darkening the air precipitate, and gathered scatheless 
from the fire ; 

The Himalayan peaks shall yield their charge, and the 
desolate steppes of Siberia, 

The Maelstrom disengulph its spoil, and the iceberg 
manumit its captive. 

All shall teem with life, the converging fragments of 
humanity. 

Till every conscious essence greet his individual frame ; 

For, in some dignified similitude, alike, yet different in 
glory, 

This body shall be shaped anew, fit dwelling for the soul. 

The. hovel hath grown to a palace, the bulb hath burs 
into a flower ; 

Matter hath put on incorruption, and is at peace with 
the spirit.’’ 



CHAPTER X. 


M aw that liwth and mas 4jafl ; aaft hehsltl 
g aw aliw gk^mta; aatl hav« thf 

hfys 0f heW and »f (l«ath.” 

ITHOUT the Lord Jesus, his dying 



vv and living again, life is but death, 
its march a march to the grave. 

Born to die is the single truth fulfilled 
in our existence. 

The first and last step, every uncertain 
tread of the babe, every bright leap of the 
boy, every hopeful advance of youth, every 
confident stride of manhood, every totter of 
age, are so much toward the goal, death. 

What a dismal prospect ! What a sad his- 
tory, if these be all ! Life received only to be 
given up after a few painful breathings, or be- 


(131) 


132 


ASLEEP. 


fore intellect is sufficiently developed to ap- 
preciate a single happiness or treasure of 
earth, or when the arms are full of assured 
hope, before the bitterness and stings, which 
often accompany possession, exist, or when 
children and dear friends are making this 
earthly estate but too happy ; all which we 
get and hold, a ficititious story, which fills 
an idle hour, or beguiles a weary day, but 
has no truth-fastened anchor in its past, and 
reaches out to no possession in its future. 

Thus the psalmist sadly moans, We bring 
our years to an end as a tale that is told.’' 

Death is to be contemplated not alone 
through the glass of nature, and of time, or 
the searchings of science ; not alone as an 
universal submission to an original doom. 

The Gospel, and the hope full of immor- 
tality, abide at the door of the sepulchre ; not 
inverted torches, but fires blazing upward to- 
ward Heaven, and throwing their light back 
into the night already far spent. 

He who looks over earth, too truly liken- 
ed to the desert in which Israel’s children 


ASLEEP. 


133 


wandered till they fell, and sees that its dust 
has been seven times turned, till death cov- 
ers death, and yet would mark beyond dying 
generations. One that remains living and 
immortal, must take his stand at the centre 
of humanity, on Mount Calvary, the only 
mound which records a conqueror of death 
in the Lord of Life, in Jesus prophesied as 
the Father of Eternities. ‘‘ He hath abolish- 
ished death, and brought life and immortali- 
ty to light in the Gospel.’' 

“Now sinners may die, for the Sinless hath died.” 

As soon as sin had brought death into 
the world and all our woe " the promise of 
restoration was made. 

‘‘ The Seed of the woman shall bruise the 
serpent’s head.” There was added the rev- 
elation, The serpent shall bruise his heel.” 

The figure is of a combat, in which, after 
receiving one painful, yet curable wound, 
the champion treads the foe down into dis- 
honorable defeat, and utter annihilation. 

That promised Seed is the Lord Jesus 


134 


ASLEEP. 


Christ, who, through death, destroyed him 
that had the power of death. Yet the 
seed is our human nature, and, aided by 
the Divine Spirit, we, one and all, may be 
conquerors, and more than conquerors over 
the last enemy. 

If our Divine Lord had not interposed, if 
God had not made Himself the Seed of the 
woman, death had been completest death ; 
the body had been dissolved forever, dust to 
dead dust, and the spirit had passed out in- 
to a wretchedness without cessation or rem- 
edy. 

Every human being now shares the Lord’s 
immortal existence. ‘‘ Through Christ shall 
all be made alive.” 

This life-creating efficiency is not confined 
to those who took mortality after the res- 
urrection of our Lord had girded it about 
with immortality. The balances of God 
have not those frequent time-notches which 
mark ours. 

When the Lord made bare His mighty 
‘arm for so wondrous salvation. He stretched 


ASLEEP. 


135 


it backward over the four thousand years, 
to the olden Paradise, as well as forward 
across the Millenial degrees which separate 
us from the new Paradise. The gaze with 
faith to the coming Messiah, and that with 
memory, to the Messiah come and gone, 
pass through one vari-colored prism, the 
promises of God, and side by side, go out in- 
to a sure and glorious hope, to be realized 
at the second advent. 

There is a sense in which death reigns. 
A few days or years hence, we too, now 
active, and full of life, shall feel the cold 
touch of his iron sceptre. Thanks be to 
God, there abides, before and after that 
touch, a comfortable sense in which death is 
actually and utterly abolished, since he that 
liveth and believeth in the Lord shall never 
die.'' 

“ There is no death, what seems so is transition ; 

This life, of mortal breath. 

Is but a suburb of the life Elysian 
Whose portal we call death.” 

Even that reign of death which exists, and 


136 


A SLEEP. 


presses upon our meaner part, is greatly 
changed and lightened since the grand trans- 
actions of Good-Friday and Easter. We 
tremble less at its claim. Its degradation is 
substantially lost. Its demand for instan- 
taneous submission is postponed. The Cross 
with its back-reaching arm, first of all pur- 
chased the redemption of forfeited time, and 
grants to mortals a longer or shorter period 
before the spirit can be crowded from the 
body. Except for the Lord, and His Gos- 
pel, pur first father had fallen lifeless at the 
very threshold of Eden, and there had been 
no blood of Abel to cry out against the vio- 
lence of death. Except for the Lord and 
His Gospel, the human race had been swal- 
lowed in the first swoop of the cherubic 
sword guarding the tree of life. 

The first golden pieces of the atonement 
were paid for these passing moments, so of- 
ten treated as an enemy by those who 
would “ kill time C so often wasted or 
thrown away. 

The shining of the sun on all alike ; the 


ASLEEP. 


137 


falling of the rain ; the sweet breath of the 
wind ; the incense and cheer, and beauty, 
and wealth of earth ar.ound us; sympathy 
and love ; every comfort and joy which is 
gathered from our fellow pilgrims toward 
the grave ; these tell part of the riches of 
the first golden pieces in the price of atone- 
ment. 

As a physical change, this event that 
comes to all, has been lightened by Christian- 
ity, its institutions, and its effects. Skill in 
medicine and surgery reach their higher 
stages of growth, only beneath the Gospel. 
The charity which takes Lazarus from the 
porch of the selfish rich man, and gives him 
almost a mother’s, or a sister’s care, is of the 
spirit w^hich is from above. The savage and 
negligent have been softened, and roused to 
the rule, As ye would from others^ even so 
do.” As a physical change, the pains and 
strangeness of failure unto death, are allevia- 
ted by the company of Christians ; the sup- 
port of their arms, the soothing of their hands, 
the cheer of their voices ; these reach even 


138 


ASLEEP. 


into the last hour, and eyes, till they close 
on earth, look into eyes which beam with 
love, because they reflect the Lord, and the 
sinking tabernacle is laid down by_ arms all 
the more gently, because underneath them 
are the arms of the Lord’s love. It is as if 
these golden angels, Angels ” our English 
ancestors called the golden pieces of highest 
value in commerce,) the price of the Redeem- 
er’s love, had been sent over earth to pur- 
chase hearts, and minds, and care, and bend 
them to the relief of the dying man. 

What science calls natural alleviations are 
bought also by the Lord, but are not here 
numbered. Some of these are unconscious- 
ness of infancy, such immaturity in the mind 
of childhood that it cannot dread the recur- 
rence of pain, or the coming of stifled 
breathing ; such pressure of sickness as for- 
bids thought, or sensation ; and the years 
in which the grasshopper is a burden. 

That Grand Easter, the last day, Avith the 
most mighty miracle of the universe, the 
general resurrection, shall number the resi- 


ASLEEP, 


139 


due of the gold pieces of our Lord’s sacri- 
fice for our bodies. We shall note the pa- 
tient sentries, who have kept watch over 
their dust; the celestial physician through 
whom the “bruised heel” is recovered, and 
the searching detectives who leave not a 
particle of mortality as trophy, with him 
who styled himself all conqueror, but who 
sinks beneath our long-feeble arm. 

Alleviate the evil, promise its entire re- 
moval, yet fear of death remains — is univer- 
sal. 

Even St. Paul, who could shout at the 
edge of the sword of martyrdom, “ I am 
ready to be offered up,” confesses a shudder. 

“ Not that we would be unclothed ; but 
clothed upon, that mortality might be swal- 
lowed up of life.” 

He would, if possible, escape the stepping 
down ; would leap across the grave. Trans- 
lation rather than death, if the Lord will 
so appoint, is his desire. This dread 
forms a large element in the description, 
“ He hath delivered them who through fear 


140 


ASLEEP, 


of death were all their life-time subject to 
bondage/' To the doubts and uncertainties 
created by our sin and weakness, and crowd- 
ing as awful spectres about the close of life, 
the reformers of the English church refer in a 
prayer at the burial of the dead that ‘‘for 
no fears of death we fall from Christ," and in 
a supplication of the Litany, “ In the hour of 
death, good Lord deliver us." While we are 
the weak tempted mortals that we are, we 
shall have need of these petitions. 

There have been indeed, profligate men, 
bold women, who have met death with a 
calmness the disciple often fails to attain. 
To the end of the world, there shall be such. 

Humble and sensitive faith realizes that 
the events created by sin are terrible. 
Therefore it crouches as from a blast in the 
shadow of the Cross, or clings to it, as 
in the heavy rain the tender plant to the 
oak, 

There are few Christians who have not at 
some time, looked toward death with heavy 
anxiety. Even, when right thought and con- 


ASLEEP. 


I4I 

siderations overpower it, they do not always 
annul it. 

I have a sin of fear that when I’ve spun 
my last thread, I shall perish on that shore.” 

There remains no doubt that the unsooth- 
ed conscience, past guilt, the approach of 
judgment, and of eternity, waken the chief- 
est forebodings, and frame the monster of 
fear. 

The sting of death is sin, and the strength 
of sin is the law.” 

Let the heart be assured that the blood 
of Jesus Christ has cleansed it from all de- 
filement; let the hope be confident that the 
name is upon the book of life, and death, 
like a mountain pass of the Alps, the hither 
side of roughness and cold gone over, is into 
lands of summer suns and southern winds, 
into vales where bliss and rest abide. Death 
becomes relief ; the lajdng down of duty, the 
taking up of reward. ‘'For me to live is 
Christ, and to die is gain.” 

God in His wise love, may leave the fear 
of death to haunt the earlier part and the 


142 


A SLEEP. 


height of life, as the Amorites and the Ca- 
naanites were suffered to dwell for genera- 
tions in the conquered land of promise. 
We need caution and seriousness while we 
are compassed by temptations. Where the 
glitter of worldliness is abroad, and all 
tends to seduce us into contentment with 
earth as home, something must persuade us 
to number our days, or we shall not apply 
our hearts to wisdom. Take away from sleep 
every trace of the image of that death in 
which our sin has*involved us, and how few 
of us will be urgent each night : 

“ Teach me to live that I may dread 
The grave as little as my bed.’’ 

As the event approaches, and the attrac- 
tions of the world loose their hold, strange- 
ness disappears, naturalness comes on, anxie- 
ty lessens. A shudder, a struggle for cour- 
age may yet exist, as when one awaits the 
surgeon’s knife, and knows not how much 
pain he must endure ; or as when a woman 
draws near her travail. In these instances, 
relief and joy are confidently expected, as 


ASLEEP. 


143 


the results of accepted agony. So under 
the pledge of the Lord Jesus, death is to es- 
tablish eternal health, and to open to the 
spirit, pleasures which cannot fade. From a 
sight beyond the dark river, will come back 
glad courage to enter its unknown depths. 
As the close of earth is neared, faith will pos- 
sess daily more of sight ; be better able to 
recognize arms of angels lifting the accepted 
of the Lord, and their shields repelling spir- 
itual adversaries. If faith embrace the prom- 
ise, I will never, no never, no never leave 
thee,” the disciple shall shout, I am persuad- 
ed that death shall not separate me from the 
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our 
Lord.” 

Faith has often looked at and beyond a 
death known to be exceedingly painful. 

With an air almost of playful cheerfulness, 
one of the martyrs in the reign of Queen 
Mary, as he was going across familiar Eng- 
lish meadows to the stake, already in sight, 
said, But two stiles more to climb, and I 
shall be at the porch of Heaven.” 


144 


ASLEEP. 


An eminent minister of the Church of 
England, a hundred years later, declared. 

These last hours have nothing terrible in 
them ; my body suffers, and is weak, but my 
soul is strong and joyful/' Two hundred 
years more, and tortures from desperate 
sickness were soothed by a spirit which 
could thus speak, ‘‘ At even time it is light. 
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, tp-day, 
and forever." 

Yes, the observation of every Christian min- 
ister, marks men, from whom philosophical 
firmness, or constitutional courage is least to 
be expected, triumphing over life-long fear, 
and stepping without a falter across the line 
of the shadow of death. Let none who re- 
calls his long career of sin ; his short course 
of imperfect religiousness ; his oft forgotten 
resolutions ; his aspirations, from whose pur- 
suit he has retired, presume to demand of 
God the dispelling clouds and apprehen- 
sions ; the making the last hours bright and 
triumphant. It is enough if the Lord secure 
our safety, and grant any kind of entrance 


ASLEEP. 


HS 

into His everlasting kingdom. Some may 
sail with spread canvas and flying pennants 
into port ; some on boards, or broken pieces 
of the ship, may get safely to land. 

Yet so often is the pillow of death made 
soft ; the conscience quieted ; the hope re- 
joiced by prospect of speedy possession, 
that we do anticipate for the disciple, quiet 
and contentment, if not high degrees of tri- 
umph. Tens of thousands of ordinary weak 
saints have proved the last day of earth a 
festal day ; have laid down the tired or 
racked body, 

“ As gladly as the storm-beat traveler, 

Who having reached his destined place of shelter 
Drops at the door his mantle's cumbrous weight." 

What then is the transaction death, to him 
who is sustained by the Grace of the Lord 
Jesus ? It is the laying of the body inside the 
circle of the resurrection ; the sowing it as 
seed within the Lord's acre, that weakness 
may grow into power, dishonor into glory, 
mortality into immortality. 

It is a simple event in the life of the spirit, 

13 


146 


A SLEEP. 


not sleep, not fainting, not insensibility, not 
interruption ; merely a passage, a change of 
place. That spirit has been united with the 
body ; it is alone, and has its own proper 
manifestation. That spirit has been immers- 
ed in infirmity ; it is where no sickness, nor 
sorrow, nor crying, nor pain, nor death can 
exist. 

With respect both to body and soul, 
the destroying agent, as in much of the 
chemistry of earth, is become a creator. 
Death is regeneration; the riddle of life no 
longer perplexes us, or taxes the guesses of 
the intellect, but is splendidly solved. 

‘‘ Out of the eater comes forth meat, and 
out of the strong comes forth sweetness.'' 

Certainty, fixed certainty begins, if not 
earlier, the moment the veil is lifted. 

Such as we pass beneath that veil, we 
abide through eternity. 

“No more of doubt where all is true, 

No death to close the longing view. 

No dream of future tears.” 

The complete conquest of the last enemy. 


A SLEEP. 


147 


the perfection of humanity in our living 
again, shall be when the Lord shall bring 
forth the Easter top-stone, with shoutings of 
Grace, Grace, unto it.’' 

Body and soul shall be again and forever 
united. As it was at the beginning, so it 
shall be at the end* The Lord Alpha and 
Omega. The Lord all in all. We shall be 
permitted to follow the Lamb whithersoever 
He goeth. In His joy, we shall find joy, and 
on the banks of the river of life, shall forget 
that there ever flowed at our feet, dark 
waters of Death. 



148 


ASLEEP. 


DEATH. 

“ Death, thou wast once an uncouth hideous thing, 
Nothing but bones, 

The sad effect of sadder grones ; 

Thy mouth was open, but thou couldst not sing. 

For we considered Thee as at some six 
Or ten years hence, 

After the losse of life and sense. 

Flesh being turned to dust, and bones to sticks. 

We lookt on this side of thee, shooting short ; 

Where we did finde 
The shels of fledge souls left behinde. 

Dry dust which sheds no tears, but may extort. 

But since our Saviour's death did put some bloud 
Into thy face ; 

Thou art grown fair, and full of grace. 

Much in request, much sought for, as a good. 

For we do now behold thee gay and glad 
As at dooms-day. 

When souls shall wear their new array 
And all thy bones with beauty shall be clad. 

Therefore we can go die as sleep, and trust 
Half that we have 
Unto an honest faithful grave ; 

Making our pillow either down, or dust/’ 


A SLEEP. 


149 



“ gkttd bslioW i wtttf quitMs ; aitd ma wwatift 

is with ts givie man aaotiflittfl as Ws 
Mfsiffe shall hj.” 

“ §lfSS)e4 Mt tbss* smaats wbsat tbs ^o»;^ 
M)b«a b« rsatftb shall finU watcbiafl : §katl it lie 
Shall fsw« in th« SJrsnd watrh, sj; wms in ih« 
ihi*(l waith, att4i find thm ss, hl«ss«4 aw thsss 
swvants.” 

** ^mv Inins hn flktljil ahnnt anfl anuK 
liflhts htttnina; anti a* lihn nntn ntnn 

that wait fnt tbnit gionetl, that whnn lin wnwth 
anh hnnthtth, tbna waa npnn nntn Itint intmntli- 
atnla.” 



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